24: One Last Day
by MattPrice01
Summary: Set hours after Season 9. Having surrendered to the Russians in London, Jack is then thrown back into danger when the Russian helicopter is shot down over Ukraine - and with soldiers and rebels pursuing him, even if can escape the country, his troubles are not over as he discovers a plot by a Euro-terror group to destroy Washington DC...
1. 1: 4pm - 5pm (EST)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own 24, that honor belongs to Robert Cochran, Joel Surnow and 20th Century Fox.

Basically, with the news of a 24 spinoff appearing in the media, I decided to write my own story that would give Jack and the original show some proper closure. This is the first of 24 chapters that will give everyone the closure they feel wasn't there at the end of Live Another Day.

Full Plot:  
Just hours after the London incident, Jack Bauer finds himself thrown back into danger when the Russian helicopter transporting him to Moscow is shot down near the Russia-Ukraine border – in his fight to reach the Ukraine capital, Jack must battle combined Russian and Ukraine forces without any sort of backup and even if he successfully escapes the country, his troubles are not over...

Meanwhile, over the Atlantic, a United Airlines plane en-route to Washington is hijacked by European terrorists – on the same flight happens to be Chloe O'Brien and Belcheck who are forced into action to stop the terrorists. What they don't know, however, is that the hijacking and Jack being hunted is nothing but a ploy to distract an ailing President Heller away from a deadly plot – a plot to destroy Washington DC and the presidency...

* * *

1: 4pm – 5pm (EST):

 **The following takes place between 4pm and 5pm, European Standard Time.**

 **Events occur in real time**

–

16:00PM

 **Greenland**

"This is Chopper AV-75 calling Kangilinn Base – do you read me, over?" the pilot for the helicopter spoke into his radio in a thick Russian accent. "This is Kangilinn Base, Chopper AV-75. You appeared to be here without authorisation – state your intention or we will be forced to shoot you down, over" the cold, monotone-like voice replied within an instance. The pilot got worried – it was his first time going out to "Kangilinn Base" and he had been assured repeatedly that he shouldn't face any issues whilst requesting permission to land.

Then he felt an arm on his shoulder. The pilot looked up to see one of his passengers, a well-known and revered Russian General. "Leave this to me" he told the pilot in an even thicker accent before picking up the radio and speaking into it in his native language. "Kangilinn Base, this is Chopper AV-75. I don't know who you are, son, but I can tell you that I don't need any sort of permission to land here!" he said in a no-nonsense way. "Ge... General! I am so sorry, I had no idea you were aboard, sir! Permission to land, granted!" the voice replied before being suddenly cut off. The pilot's eyes rose in surprise and he looked up at the General. "How did you do that, sir? It's almost like you've been here before!" he asked, incredulous. The General smirked. "Oh, you have no idea, pilot" he said simply. As he moved to sit back down, the pilot started to follow the instructions give to him on where to land at Kangilinn Base.

Lying at the very north of the North Atlantic Ocean was the autonomous country of Greenland – with a population of just around 96,000, the country had a very interesting history. Whilst seen as part of the North America continent, Greenland has been long associated with Europe, something that is mainly put down to the fact that the country is a part of the Danish Realm. During World War 2, following Denmark becoming occupied by Nazi Germany, Greenland was in-turn occupied by the United States in an attempt to stop Axis forces – during these years of US occupation, America's northernmost Air Force base, Thule Air Base, was built and is still used today.

To the very south of Greenland is the settlement of Kangilinnguit, a former naval base with a population of around 50 people – nowadays, it's only open to help with the local economy and for helicopters to fuel up. However, what very few people know is that the settlement has a second use, many miles below ground-level – during World War 2, a group of US scientists and Naval officers found a disused mine shaft that went down to about a mile underneath Greenland and proceeded to turn it into a secret base that would only ever be used should World War 3 take place. However, following the end of World War 2 and the near-abandonment of Kangilinnguit, the base was left dormant. That is, until 1991, the year that the Soviet Union fell; in the weeks leading up to the Union's dissolution, the base was rediscovered. Just months later, the base was re-fitted to 1990s standard and claimed by Russia, despite some vehement opposition by the Ukraine.

Whilst there was a belief that the base should only be used in the eventuality of World War 3, it was ultimately decided that the base would be used as a normal military intelligence base that was secret to the world. For the next 2 decades, operations ran completely smoothly and in order to avoid the truth being outed to the rest of the world, the existence of the base was kept secret between 100 people – anyone who shouldn't have found out or were viewed as untrustworthy were either shot or thrown in jail on false charges. Over time, a submarine bay was added to the secret base and its location meant that pretty much no-one was none the wiser. After a few minutes of manoeuvring, the helicopter finally landed on a small black heli-pad that was surrounded by fuel tanks and a small shaft that looked like a part of an elevator. The pilot checked his fuel meter – he had about 5 minutes left before the helicopter would automatically switch off. He moved to switch off the rotors as the old Russian General came up behind him. "Thank you for the lift, son" he spoke in Russian with a smile. "It's no problem, sir – it's my job" the pilot said, without looking up from the controls as he continued to shut off the helicopter.

"Yes..." the General said, as he pulled a gun from his holster. Making sure a silencer was screwed on tight, he fired two shots into the pilot's body. "Sorry, son, I couldn't risk anyone finding out" he said with a touch of sympathy in his voice. He pulled the helicopter door sideways and jumped out, landing with both feet on the ground. He walked to the back of the military chopper and knocked on what appeared to be the cargo bay door three times. "We're here, it's time.." he spoke, though this time in English. After about 3 seconds, the door opened and 6 people, 5 men and 1 woman, emerged. The Russian general turned to one of the men, a young person who looked in his 20s. "Those below will get suspicious if the fuel tanks are not used. Prepare the helicopter for fuelling after you've set the bomb, then met us" he told him, now switching to Croatian. The man nodded as the General turned to the rest of the group. He indicated for them to follow as he walked towards the elevator shaft.

–

16:05PM

 **Ukraine**

"It's no good, sir – Belarus just won't give us permission to go through their airspace. We'll have to go through Ukraine" the pilot spoke to his superior. Stanislav Vladan sighed – he had hoped to go through Belarus airspace, but now the journey would be both longer and slightly riskier. "Very well, inform Russia of the delay – we'll be in Moscow possibly an hour later than planned" he replied. The pilot nodded and Vladan turned to his prisoner. "For you, this is what you Americans call... "delaying the inevitable?" he asked. For a moment, it seemed like Jack Bauer would not reply but after a few seconds, he gave a curt nod. Vladan sighed. He had not gotten a single word out of Bauer since they'd taken off from London about 4 hours ago; well, considering time-zones, it was technically 5 hours but it still felt like 4. The intelligence agent looked out of the helicopter at the scenic Ukraine – he was really hoping that any Ukraine military potentially on the ground would not spot the helicopter.

"Bit risky, isn't it? Russians flying over the Ukraine... what is it, I'd say at least 5 months after your illegal occupation of Crimea?" Bauer asked suddenly and snidely. Vladan was caught off-guard a bit by Bauer suddenly talking but he inwardly scoffed at what he was saying. "You Americans, all thinking what we did was illegal. It may have been... "controversial" but it was entirely legal. You're just blowing it completely out of proposition, like always" he retorted. Bauer simply glared at him. "Well... just agree to disagree then" he simply said. Vladan shook his head, he had tried everything to make the helicopter journey as enjoyable and as calm as possible for everyone but Bauer was clearly not buying into it. Another few seconds went by before the agent picked up a red flask and filled the top up with some coffee. He looked up at Jack. "Thirsty?" he offered.

Bauer did nothing for a few seconds but glare, but then took the drink and downed the warm beverage before handing the flask top back. Vladan rose an eyebrow at how quickly the American downed the drink. "Tell me something, Mr Bauer – why were you so willing to give yourself up for Ms O'Brian? It almost seemed like you don't have any friends aside from her..." he then asked. Bauer smirked. "You're the intelligence agent, surely you should know that" he said with quite a bit of sarcasm. "Possibly, but let's say I've only met you for the first time and I know nothing about you at all.." Vladan suggested. "Very well..." Bauer said and he started to think back – he wasn't going to tell the whole truth, just a few bits. "In the whole of my career linking to intelligence agencies, I've only ever had a few friends – Chl... Ms O'Brian, she's the only one left. The rest are dead, killed either because of me or... in some cases, by me" he explained – in reality, part of what he had said was a lie. Tony may still be alive, but the Tony that Jack and Chloe knew was dead. He had died the moment Michelle had been killed during the Sentox nerve gas conspiracy and in his place was a shadow of his former self, now languishing in prison.

"As it is, Ms O'Brian is the only person who I would trust completely with my life. Aside from my daughter, that is" Jack continued. "Ah yes... Kim. Before I came to London, I did some delving and I've found out some details. I believe you already know you have become a grandfather again – Kim has had a boy. Patrick Jack Matthew Wesley, currently 20 months old" Vladan spoke. He noticed Bauer glaring at him again, but this was unlike any other glare he had gotten from the American over the last few hours. "Why are you telling me this?" he said angrily. "Just thought I'd let you know – thought you'd be interested" Vladan insisted. Bauer gave an angry sigh. "I swear, you had better not go after Kim. Or Chloe, for that matter. You know what I said I would do if you hurt the people I love..." he warned. Vladan knew only too well what the American was capable of – during the New York incident, Bauer's lover Renee Walker had been killed by a Russian sniper. In response, Bauer had gone on a murderous rampage and killed countless Russian citizens in his search for justice, not just for Renee but for Omar Hassan as well. "I know what you are capable of, Mr. Bauer. It's that which has led to you being on this helicopter. But as I told you back in London, we just wanted you. You have our word we will not go after Kim, or Ms O'Brian" Vladan assured.

Bauer sat back. "I wonder what is happening with Ms O'Brian now" the Russian agent thought aloud. "After all, she's still technically a fugitive and there isn't exactly anywhere for her to go". He then noticed Jack smiling at him. "Oh, you have no idea..."

16:09:23PM

–

15:16:01PM BST time

 **London**

Belcheck looked over towards the passenger seat for possibly the 84th time in the past two hours. Chloe had not said a word after since they'd left the meeting point with the Russians over 3 hours ago. It seemed like she was still in denial over what had happened – her only friend had surrendered himself to the Russians and possibly sacrificed his own life in the process. By now, it was mostly likely that Jack was somewhere above Belarus and not too far from Russian airspace. Now, putting your life at risk for the sake of your friends and family is not uncommon but for Chloe, it was pretty hard to take. It was as Jack had told her well over 12 hours ago: "I'm the only friend you have left" which was pretty much as close to the truth as possible. She did have friends from the original LA CTU but they were either dead or in prison. Jack was as close to a friend as she had.

Belcheck slowed the car down at a set of traffic lights and again turned to face Chloe. "I think you should look ahead" he said. Chloe didn't move for a few seconds. "Chloe? Please?" he pushed again. Finally, she moved her head to look out of the windscreen. As she moved to the position she was originally in, she stopped and looked again. They were just outside London Heathrow Airport. "Sorry it took so long, but obviously everything that has happened over the last day caused delays across London" the Serb assassin explained. Chloe looked towards him with a face of confusion. "I... I don't understand" she stuttered. "As Jack told you before he left... "it's time to go home". And that's where you're going" Belcheck. He noticed the lights turn green and he started the car up, heading towards the car park. "But.. but... I can't go home! I'm still effectively a fugitive, they'll arrest me before I even get off the plane!" Chloe protested. "Well, I've got some news for you.." Belcheck insisted as he found a parking space and pulled into it. He pulled a large blue bag from the backseat of the car and handed it to Chloe.

"Open it.." the Serb said simply. Chloe stuck her hand in and pulled out a white envelope. Inside was a CD. "Put it in the player" Belcheck urged and Chloe did. After a few seconds, it kicked in.

" _Chloe, hey_ " Jack spoke. " _Now, you're probably wandering what's going on – well, President Heller gave me a written pardon for everything that happened in New York. Whilst we worked on trying to fool Margot Al-Harazi at Wembley, I convinced him to give you a pardon too, as well as a pardon that pretty much expunges both your prison sentence and criminal record – yes, you fulfilled the sentence so you're not technically a criminal but the pardon is for all your actions with the hacker group. Now, if you look inside the bag again..."_ dead air on the CD continued whilst Chloe pulled out three large white padded envelopes. One had the written pardons and the second one had a passport. " _I've got you a passport as well. The last envelope... that's for Kim, when you find her. I really want her to know that I'm alive, I love her and that I'll find her and you one day! That's all I ask for. Now come on, as I said earlier, it's time to go home and I promise... I will find you again one day. Goodbye, Chloe"_. The CD player clicked and the disc popped out.

Chloe looked towards Belcheck in utter shock. "J... Jack did this?" she asked. The Serb nodded. "He also booked the tickets this morning – our plane leaves very soon, they should be starting boarding any second now" he explained. "Wait. OUR plane? Are you coming?" Chloe asked, utterly surprised. Belcheck nodded again. "I made a vow to Jack that I would ensure you get to America safely and without harm.. I intend to keep that vow" he explained" he said, almost in a monotone matter. For the time in quite some while, Chloe gave a proper smile. She had given some smiles over the past 24 hours or so, but they weren't really smiles. "You're like the Terminator – if given a job, you do it without any sort of emotion!" she remarked, half-joking. Belcheck simply rose an eyebrow. "I do have emotion.. I just perhaps might not show it like you would" he pointed out. Chloe rolled her eyes and sighed. "Well..." she said as she opened the car door. "...no point wasting time, let's get on that plane". Belcheck nodded and he got out the car. He then noticed Chloe looking up towards the sky. "Are you thinking of Jack?" he asked. After a few seconds of silence, the former CTU analyst spoke. "Not just Jack... but the President as well. I mean.. he lost his daughter in trying to stop the Chinese. In his state, I can only think what's going through his mind..." she said, not once looking down.

–

16:22:54PM

 **Airspace Above the Norwegian Sea**

It had been 3 hours since Air Force One had taken off from London en-route back to Washington DC, but because of the time-zone difference between the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe, it was technically 4. Inside, the mood was pretty much as sombre as it could be – everyone was still affected not just by the death of the First Daughter Audrey Boudreau, but also by the actions of her husband Mark, the now-former Chief of Staff, during their time in London. Not only had he committed treason by conspiring with the Russians in an attempt to capture Jack Bauer who had resurfaced in London, but in conspiring with the Russians, he had unwittingly played a hand in the Chinese and Ching Zhi trying to start a war between America and China. But whilst his actions still came as a shock, he was obviously the last thing on everyone's mind – the biggest concern was President Heller himself.

No-one knew whether to try and talk to him or just give him some privacy – ever since they had left London, not one person had spoken to him. In the conference room, which felt like the only room where anyone could talk without feeling awkward, about 7 Secret Service agents had gathered and were trying to come up with a solution to whether someone should just talk to Heller or not. Speaking of Heller, he was currently in the plane version of his office. He had been sitting at his desk for a good two hours, just going through a large photo album of him, Audrey, his stepson Richard and Audrey's deceased mother Alicia. He knew full well his memory was deteriorating and he was looking at the photos to keep reminding himself of the family he once had – as he had told Alistair Davies, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, before he had left for Washington DC, no matter how hard he would try to remember, he would eventually forget he even had a daughter, let alone she died. At some point, he could look through this photo album again and he wouldn't even remember any of the faces on them.

He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by a knock on his door. He quickly checked the clock on his desk and he realized he had been all alone ever since they had left London. "Come in" he said. The door opened and a smartly-dressed young man came in. "Mr President, I'm sorry to intrude on you..." he said, though in a British accent. "It's alright, son. What can I do for you?" Heller said with a polite smile, relieved that someone had come in. He didn't mind the privacy but he wouldn't have minded having someone to talk to either. "It's just, we've had to change our course. We're gonna have to fly close to Iceland, so we'll be delayed in returning to Washington by another 50 to 60 minutes" the man explained. "Right, ok. That shouldn't be a problem. Thank you, son" Heller nodded. The man smiled and moved to leave when the President spoke up. "Hold on a minute, sorry... this might be my dementia speaking but.. I don't think I've seen you before. And you're British, no disrespect, so why are you on this plane?" he asked, slight suspicion mixed with confusion. The man closed the door and turned back to the President. "I do apologize, sir. I'm Andrew McKaye, I'm with British MI-5. I'm part of an inter-agency exchange with the FBI.." McKaye explained, holding his hand out. Heller thought for a moment, then instantly realized.

"Oh yes, I just about remember now" he said, shaking the hand of the MI-5 agent. "Yes... and before I go, I would like to express my utter condolences for what happened with your daughter, Mr. President" McKaye said, sympathy in his eyes. Heller's expression changed and he again nodded. "Thank you, son. I appreciate that" he said with sorrow in his voice. "I don't want to seem tactless, Mr President, but I know what losing a family member is like – I lost my my parents, my sister all over 3 years ago and... it's my fault" the MI-5 agent explained. Heller looked up, with a face of surprise and shock at what he had heard. "Oh... I'm sure it wasn't your fault at all – what happened?" he asked. McKaye indicated to the chair, asking if he could sit down and Heller nodded. "Well... we were all heading to a family reunion up in Birmingham and I managed to break my leg during a training exercise at MI-5. Whilst they insisted they wouldn't have to go at all, I got my parents and my sister to go to the reunion without me.." he explained and slowed down as he tried to keep it together. "...but as my friend was helping me home, I learnt that my parent's car had been involved in a pile-up and that Dad accidentally crashed into a fuel tanker... they didn't stand a chance.." he finished and Heller could see full well that he was trying very hard to keep a brave face.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Andrew..." he started and McKaye looked up. "...but you shouldn't blame yourself. No-one could have seen that crash coming and had you been in that car, you would have died as well.." Heller finished. He could see McKaye wasn't looking too convinced. "Let me tell you something, McKaye. You've heard of Jack Bauer?" he restarted and McKaye nodded. "Only a few things here and there, like how he went on the run following events in New York but I have heard of him". "Well... Jack actually resurfaced over 24 hours ago. He had heard an attempt would be made on my life and he resurfaced to save me" Heller explained, trying his best to remember the events of the past 24 hours. "Now, had Jack not resurfaced... Audrey wouldn't have been the only one who would be dead. I would have been dead, everyone on this plane would potentially have been dead, the Prime Minister would have been dead and London would be in ruins... long story short, whilst most would have.. I do not blame Jack for Audrey's death, not one bit. Yes, he did resurface and the actions that followed did indirectly lead to Audrey's death, but chances are she would have died whatever happened".

"I guess, long story short, life is far too short to blame people for something they didn't directly do. I made the mistake of blaming Jack for something that happened to Audrey at the hands of the Chinese nearly a decade ago – I'm not going to make that same mistake again" Heller finished; he was a bit surprised that in his mental state, he had managed to remember all that. But McKaye seemed like he had accepted what the President was saying. "I guess that's true... and if you don't mind my asking, sir, I'm guessing Ms. Boudreau is in one of those photos?" he asked, now indicating towards the open photo album. Heller looked down and chuckled. "Yeah.. I was just going over a few old memories. Come here, I probably shouldn't but have a look at a few.." he said, indicating for McKaye to look over his shoulder. As the Brit got up, Heller thought to himself. He was obviously not 100%, but he was grateful to McKaye for giving him a chance to be open about his feelings.

16:28:34PM

–

16:32:06PM

 **Greenland**

The elevator doors slid open and the Croatian that had been ordered to hook the fuel tanks up to the helicopter emerged from the lift, onto the base's 3rd lowest level. The sight that met him took him by surprise – 7 Russian officers, old and young, sat dead in their chairs. Gunshot wounds in the head and chest. At one of the desks was the lone woman of the group that had arrived by the helicopter, trying to break some kind of code. The Russian General spotted him. "Are the fuel pumps hooked up?" he asked. The Croatian nodded. "And the C-4 secured in place. How are things here?" he asked. This time, the woman spoke. "I've been spending the last 10 minutes trying to break into the over-ride that will take the elevator down to the lowest level – these officers have put in a damn good security code!" she said, this time in Ukrainian. The Croatian looked around. "Are the ones you've already killed the only ones in this base?" he asked. The General shook his head. "There are more, but they'll be taken care of. There's a meeting going up between the most senior people within the base and they're none the wiser – the sooner we can get to the lower level, the better!" he explained.

Suddenly, the desk panel that the Ukraine woman was at beeped several times and the security code on the large computer screen lit up green. "We're in!" she declared and she clapped her hands together. A computer-like voice spoke out. "Access to the lower levels granted" it said. "Ok, everyone but Aralica head down to the lower level. Get ready to leave" the old General ordered and everyone except for the Croatian man, now known as Aralica, headed back towards the lift. As the doors closed, the General turned to Aralica. "Put this canister directly into the conference room's air maintenance, then head to the lowest level and send the all-clear. I'll record the message for when they come to find survivors" he told the Croatian as he handed him a small bottle-like canister. Aralica nodded and headed around the corner towards the conference room. The General turned towards the desk and started to work the various buttons.

Down on the lowest level, meanwhile, the elevator doors once again slid open and the 5-strong group walked out, onto a gangway overlooking a large pool of water. Down below was various scientists walking around and... "There it is – the main prize" the Ukraine woman smiled smugly. "The "Yury Dolgorukiy"". Indeed, down in the pool of water and partially submerged was a Borei-class submarine. "Well..." one of the men said, speaking in a thick Romanian accent as he pulled out a gun fitted with a silencer. "..let's do this". The other 4 people pulled out guns with silencers fitted and split up into groups.

Back on the higher levels, Aralica had rounded a corner and found an airvent that read "Air Conditioning". He was currently in the process of unscrewing a tube and replacing it with the bottle he had been given by the Russian General. He had to be very careful as if he dropped it, he would be overcome by what was inside the bottle. Not too far away, the General was now standing in front of the computer screen. "To those who may not know, I am Russian General Andre Benediktov. And if you have found this when I think you will find it, then you are too late" he started.

Back in the submarine bay, two soldiers rounded a corner, out of earshot and eyeshot from the scientists. Suddenly, one fell to the ground and the second one fell a second later before he could even react – both were dead. One of the gunman quietly rounded a corner, followed by the Ukranian woman. On the other side of the submarine bay, scientists were shot one by one with those still alive not even realizing what was happening. Outside the conference room, Aralica finally secured the canister within the Air-Conditioning Unit and replaced the air-vent. He pulled a small phone in the shape of a walkie-talkie out of his holster and pressed a number before bringing the phone to his air. After a few seconds... "This is Aralica of the Marina Cell calling Eastern Cell. We are in position – you have the all-clear! A.F.E!" he spoke in Ukrainian before heading off towards the elevator. Back down in the submarine bay, the 5-strong group were nearly finished killing all of the scientists. Bodies lay strewn everywhere as the last one left spotted the bodies and was about to raise the alarm before being shot in the head.

"No matter what you do or how you do it, you simply will not be able to find us.." Benediktov continued the recording of the "message" as Aralica headed into the elevator. He turned to face the left-hand side of the lift as the doors closed.

–

16:39:23PM

 **Ukraine**

"How much longer until we clear Ukraine airspace, pilot?" Vladan asked his pilot out of the blue. "I'm sorry, sir, but it's gonna be longer than we expected – another 3 hours..." the pilot explained. He could see from his cockpit-view mirror that Vladan was shocked at the length of time and rushed an explanation. "If we continue on our current route, we'll be flying right near Chernobyl – you can give me any punishment you wish, sir but I refuse to fly anyway near there!" he insisted. Vladan looked like he was about to protest but kept his mouth shut. "What's the matter, worried about a little radiation?" Bauer taunted. Vladan glared at him. "No, just... I'm a very time-efficient person. Minor delays I can take, but big delays have me on edge!" he insisted though inside, Bauer knew he was lying. He WAS worried about possibly going over Chernobyl, much like any other person would be. Vladan then turned back to face his pilot who began talking again. "Course change made, sir. We should be overflying the city of Duha within the next 5 minutes, then Kiev in an hour" he explained.

Vladan nodded and turned back to face Bauer. "Looks like we'll be stuck together for longer" he told the American. Bauer nodded and then suddenly stopped. His facial expression changed and he appeared in thought. "Something's not right" he whispered to Vladan, indicating to him to close the small door that enabled contact between him and the pilot. The Russian rose an eyebrow, but turned to close the door. He turned back to face Bauer. "If my geographical knowledge is correct, we've been flying right on the edge of the Belarus-Ukraine border, right?" he asked. "Yeeesss..." Vladan said, unsure of what Bauer was indicating. "Well... Chernobyl is not on the edge of the Ukraine, it's several hours in and even then, I think pilots would be warned if they stray too close to the restricted zone.." he continued. Vladan still looked unsure of what Bauer was trying to say. "We could have stayed on our original route and not at all been worried about whether we'd accidentally fly over Chernobyl or not – why would the pilot take us on a different route when we wouldn't even be flying near such a restricted zone to begin with?". It took a few seconds but Vladan's eyes rose in alarm. "I think that pilot is intentionally flying us into a trap.." Bauer revealed his theory.

Vladan instantly moved to open the small door behind the pilot but it wouldn't budge. Inside the cockpit, the pilot turned off the radio and pulled a small phone out of his shirt pocket. "Go" he said, speaking into the phone. In the main helicopter area, Vladan was trying all he can to open the small door. "WHOEVER IS IN THERE, OPEN THIS DOOR!" he yelled in Russian. Suddenly...

Everyone lurched to the left as a huge bang hit the helicopter and send the whole craft into a spin. One of Vladan's officers fell on top of Bauer whilst the other hit his head on a door, knocking him unconscious. Vladan had kept his balance and was trying everything he could to open the door. Realizing his attempts were futile, Jack pulled his arm out from under the officer that had fallen on him and grabbed Vladan's leg, pulling him down on the officer. The helicopter continued falling and spinning, before hitting the ground at high speed.

16:43:05PM  
–

16:48:46PM

 **Greenland**

The elevator doors to the submarine bay and General Benediktov emerged – he walked down the steps towards the pool of water where the 5-strong group were standing and waiting. "Submarine secured?" he asked Aralica. "Yes General!" the Croatian replied. "Is the submarine fully equipped, Krylenko?" he then asked the Ukraine woman. "Yes, sir! Fully fuelled, fully stocked, it's ready to go!" she replied. The General nodded and turned to two of the other men. "Chadli, Dragusha, set the C-4 on the walls. Let the caves crumble!" he declared and the two men nodded, picking up a large bag full of plastic explosives before splitting up in two directions. The General turned towards the remainder of the group. We leave in 5 minutes, climb aboard the submarine!" he ordered them and turned towards another console as the 3 did as ordered. After pressing a series of buttons on the console, the General looked at the computer screen. "Submarine bay doors will open in 5 minutes – clear the area. Repeat, submarine bay doors will open in 5 minutes – clear the area" it repeated over and over. Benediktov smiled.

"It begins..." he said quietly.

–

16:50:00PM

 **Ukraine**

Considering it had hit the ground at high-speed, the helicopter was still pretty much intact. Yes, there was bits of wreckage strewn out over the area but the helicopter as a whole was still in one piece. Inside, Jack groggily regained consciousness. After a few seconds of pushing, he managed to force one of the Russian officers off of him, only to find that he was dead – a piece of wreckage had penetrated his heart and had actually missed him by a mere few centimetres. As he got to his feet, he could smell something exposed... FUEL! He instantly got to his feet and picked up the two machine guns that the dead officers had, just in case. He then stopped and looked back at Vladan, who was starting to stir himself. After a few seconds of debating whether to help or not, Jack's passive side kicked in and he held out a hand to Vladan. "Come on – this helicopter could blow up at any minute" Jack said with urgency. Vladan eyed his hand for a few seconds before accepting. Suddenly, another bang followed and the smell of fuel became even stronger. "Sh*t! COME ON!" Jack yelled and the two raced out of the helicopter, onto the Ukraine ground.

BANG!

An even louder explosion than when the helicopter hit the ground filled the air. Jack and Vladan were forced down onto the Ukraine grass by the shock-waves of the explosion. More wreckage lay, strewn out by the explosion and surrounding the two. Vladan slowly and uneasily got to his feet as soon as the last explosion appeared to die down. He looked towards the helicopter. "I think we're the only survivors, Bauer. No-one inside there could have survived that..." he said uneasily. Bauer looked at the smouldering remains of the helicopter – thank god he had stirred when he did. "Where... where are we?" Vladan asked, looking around. Jack finally got to this feet and spoke as he did: "That pilot said we were 5 minutes outside the city of Duha. I think we're on the outskirts". He handed Vladan one of the machine guns. "I have a feeling that whoever shot the helicopter down will try and find survivors – we'll be waiting for them" he further explained. Vladan gave an incredulous look.

"Are you serious? If the people that shot us down ARE out there, we can't stay here! We should get to Duha or at least try and find a Russian convoy of sorts!" he protested. "Those options may work for one of us, but it seriously screws the other – if we find a Russian convoy, they'll just shoot me on sight regardless of orders and if we try to go to Duha, the people in that city will not take kindly to seeing a Russian and I'd rather we stay together despite our differences!" Jack pointed out. Vladan knew he was right – they were enemies but as they were stranded in a country with people who would have no qualms of killing either of them on sight, they had to stick together. He was about to stand speaking when they heard what sounded like a rocket launcher. Just seconds later, a bazooka flew past them and hit a large tree. "DOWN!" Jack yelled and the two hit the deck as the tree exploded and fell.

Then from out of the blue, several machine guns could be heard and bullets flew over the two of them. Taking advantage of a few seconds silence, Jack forced his machine gun into the air in the direction of where the guns were coming from and fired non-stop. "OPEN FIRE!" came a loud voice in Russian and a battle of bullets ensued. Vladan was about to join Bauer in the firefight, but then stopped – why was that order in Russian? If someone had shot down the helicopter, why would it be Russians? "Bauer, hold it!" he yelled and crawled over to the large piece of wreckage that was currently keeping them from being spotted. "I know this may seem irrelevant but I heard that order in RUSSIAN!" he explained. Jack was about to give him a look that suggested it was irrelevant but then he stopped. "Are you sure you heard Russian?" he asked. Vladan nodded. "I'll try to get a look and see who's shooting at us" he replied, pulling out a small telescope. Whilst he looked into the grass behind the wreckage, Bauer covered him by starting to fire more rounds of his machine gun.

After a few seconds, Jack stopped firing. "Anything?" he asked. "Yes... I can see... it's a Russian platoon! And... hang on, I recognize that shirt – it's not just Russians, I can see Ukraine rebels!" he said, shocked at the sight he had seen. Jack was just as in shock – Russian soldiers and Ukraine rebels WORKING TOGETHER? Something just didn't seem right. "Are you sure?" he asked. "Positive!" Vladan insisted.

–

15:55:36PM

 **London Heathrow**

Sitting on some steel waiting seats were Chloe and Belcheck – they had checked in without a hitch and boarding would take place any minute now. Chloe looked up at the airport clock; she had been told boarding would commence nearly 6 minutes ago. Belcheck looked up from the newspaper he had been reading and sighed a bit. "That's the 6th time in the past 10 minutes you've looked at that clock – just relax, they'll make the announcement" he said with a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Sorry" Chloe simply said, a little sheepish. As the clock hit 3:56PM, the airport announcer suddenly spoke: "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen – we are pleased to announce that boarding for United Airlines Flight 681 en-route to Washington DC has now opened. Anyone taking Flight 287 can now join the queue to board, thank you".

Chloe looked up and looked at her ticket. "Flight 681, that's us!" she said and she moved to get up. Belcheck followed, leaving the newspaper on his steel seat. Sitting further back, meanwhile, and in a position where he could clearly see the boarding queue, was a smartly-dressed man with a goatee and beard. He eyed Chloe and Belcheck getting into the boarding queue and pulled a small phone also in the shape of a walkie-talkie out of his jacket pocket. "This is Hermann of Airborne Cell – all members have been accounted for and separated to avoid suspicion. We will engage in 2 hours. A.F.E!" he spoke into it in German before getting up and picking up his briefcase to join the boarding queue.

–

16:57:00PM

 **Greenland**

Inside the near-empty submarine bay, the Yuri Dolgorukiy was finally submerging. At the controls for the Borei-class submarine, Dragusha and Aralica were preparing to take it out of the bay and into the Northern Sea. Chadli was at another control panel, checking the submarine's armament whilst Benediktov, Krylenko and the last member of the group were checking out the rest of the submarine. "We will be clear of base within the next 60 seconds, General" Dragusha spoke into a headset. Below them, the General responded to the Albanian. "Thank you, Dragusha – Chadli, what's the status of the armament?" he asked. "It's exactly as you said, sir – 16 RSM-56 Bulava SLBMs, with 10 of those carrying MIRVed warheads as well as 6 RPK-2 Viyuga cruise missiles complete with their own torpedo tubes!" the Romanian replied to his question.

"Excellent – Divjak, the detonator?" Benediktov turned to the last man, asking in Bosnian. "Yes, General" he pulled a round detonator with a simple red button on the top and handed it to the old Russian. " _20 seconds, General!_ " Aralica said from the control room. The General turned to Krylenko and Divjak. "Get into position, the two of you" he said and the two left, heading off in different directions. " _10 seconds!_ " came Dragusha's voice. The General waited and waited. Finally, the news he wanted came. " _We are clear of the submarine bay, General. We are in the Northern Sea!_ " Aralica said. "I propose you hold on tight up there – we could get some aftershock from the explosions" Benediktov said before finally pressing down on the red button.

Back on the surface, the helicopter was almost filled up with fuel when suddenly...

BOOM!

A loud explosion ripped through the helicopter and because it was still hooked up to the fuel tanks, the fuel went up with it. Fire instantly spread everywhere and to the fuel tanks. A massive fireball ripped through the tanks and straight towards the elevator shaft. At the same time, another explosion ripped through the shaft. Back in the submarine bay, the C-4 that had been secured on the rooms surrounding the bay blew up, bringing down either metal or rocks onto the floor or the water. One explosion actually took place in the water and whilst the Yuri Dolgorukiy had cleared the submarine bay, the General's prediction was true; the submarine felt some of the shock-waves. "Once the shock-waves stop, surface" Benediktov ordered the submarine pilots.

–

 **Ukraine**

Back on the outskirts of Duha, the battle between Jack, Vladan and the gun-men was continuing with no real outcome starting to show – whilst the gun-men clearly had Jack and Vladan pinned down, they couldn't see them to save their life. "At some point... they'll bring in reinforcements – we need to stop them HERE AND NOW!" Vladan stated just as the gunfire stopped.. "I appreciate that.." Jack whispered, "...but in case you haven't noticed, they'll spot us the moment we move! How do you propose we get out of here?". Vladan sighed and put his hand into his coat. "Not we, Mr. Bauer... You. You're more important and more significant. I'm gonna give you a headstart.." the Russian agent said as he pulled out a hand-grenade. Bauer's eyes rose in horror. "Get ready to run the moment this explodes!" he added before leaping up, over the wreckage and into the grass. Gunfire continued from both ends and Jack moved his head up so he could see. Seconds later, a loud explosion replaced the outline of Vladan.

Jack could just about hear yells of "HIT THE DIRT!" and "GET DOWN!"; or at least he thought that was what was being yelled as he could only hear Russian or Ukrainian. Remembering what Vladan told him, he picked up the gun and used the explosion to run as fast as he could. He had absolutely no idea where he was or how he could avoid running into gun-men all that took a backseat in his mind as he ran and ran and ran.

–

 **Northern Ocean**

The Yuri Dolgorukiy had surfaced, quite a stretch out from the Greenland coast but enough to see the large thick clouds of smoke wafting into the air. From the submarine periscope, General Benediktov watched the fire. "Good... people won't find out about the base until after they've put out the fire" he commented. He moved away from the periscope and towards Dragusha. "Is the course set?" he asked the Albanian. "Yes, sir." came the response. At that, Benediktov turned to Aralica. "What is our ETA?" he asked. "At fastest speed underwater, 19 hours, sir" the Croatian replied. "Excellent. Prepare to dive!" the General ordered. "East Coast of America, you won't know what's about to hit you!" he said to himself, giving a smug smile. At that current moment, the Yuri Dolgorukiy was visible to anyone in the area but within 5 seconds, it was untraceable to the eye. It was like a silent predator.

–

17:00:00PM


	2. 2: 5pm - 6pm (EST)

DISCLAIMER: SEE CHAPTER 1

2: 5pm – 6pm (EST):

 **The following takes place between 5pm and 6pm, European Standard Time.**

–

17:00:01PM

 **Ukraine**

The smoke billowing from the helicopter crash site was still visible even from 5 minutes walk distance, as Jack ran further and further from where Vladan had sacrificed himself. Now he still had no idea why Russians and Ukrainians were working together but he wasn't going to wait around to find out – chances were they had orders to shoot on sight. He stopped to look back at where he had ran from. By now, it was likely that the combined forces had realized Jack had vanished. If he could get to Duha, then it was likely that he could hide out there – the way the pilot had described it before taking the helicopter into the line of fire, Duha must be a city and the Russians dare not go in. Jack looked back forwards and through the trees, could see a few houses. "That must be it!" he said to himself. Of course, he knew absolutely nothing about the Ukraine and the exact location of certain places so he hoped the church wouldn't be a red herring.

He was about to start running again when he heard the sound of several trucks. He ducked down next to a fallen tree trunk and saw several Russian trucks going fast rather quickly – he had to move now, as he was sure they were going to the scene of the helicopter crash. As soon as the last truck went out of his view, Jack got back up and started to run once again. He slid down an embankment and through even more woodland, not once stopping until he could see the large church again. But when he could, he stopped with a look of confusion – the church was there but instead of a nearby city, he could only see small houses and what looked like farms. That helicopter pilot made it sound like it was a city... unless he had lied to both Jack and Vladan, since both didn't know anything about the Ukraine. "DAMN IT!" Jack swore out loud in frustration. Slowly, he started walking to his left and towards a hedge, which looked like leading to another large field. From there, it looked like there was a farmhouse – if he could hide out there for an hour, he could somehow find out where he was and how far the nearest city was from there.

Making sure no-one could see him, Jack slipped through the hedge and walked quickly to the farmhouse. He carefully opened the wooden door and slipped in, making sure no-one else had heard him or seen him – but the house seemed to be empty. As Jack walked around the house, which had a very classic feel to it, he walked into the living room. It looked really similar to the house that he'd had when Teri was still alive – following everything that happened with Nina Myers killing Teri, the house had been sold and Jack moved into a smaller apartment. He then suddenly stopped as he saw a photo of who lived in the house – it was a family of 3, consisting of mother, father and teenage daughter. Jack sighed, this house was starting to bring back too many memories of him and his girls shortly before the Drazen incident. He would move on, but the fact was he needed a change of clothes and a drink; yes, it was wrong to essentially rob someone's house but when you're being pursued by people who want to kill you no matter what, you don't exactly have the luxury of finding a house where the occupants would be more than happy to help you.

Suddenly, he heard noise behind him – instinctively, Jack moved to go back into the kitchen. He slowly looked over his shoulder and saw the living room door open, with the family of 3 he saw in the photo coming in all smiles and exchanging laughter. Jack made to get out before they even realized he had been in the house but accidentally hit his leg on a small table, which clattered back down to the floor with a thud. At that, the laughter from the living room stopped. "Damn..." he swore again and put his back up against the wall. No point running, he'll just have to fight them off. To his left, he could just about make out the outline of the mother coming into the kitchen armed with a wooden bat. Lightly putting his machine gun on the wooden table, Jack waited until the bat came into his eyesight. And he went for it. He grabbed the top of the bat and made eye contact with the mother, before pulling the bat towards him and allowing the mother to lose his grip as she fell back-first onto the kitchen table. From the corner of his right eye, he could see the father lunging for him and within a split-second, Jack forced the bat into his stomach – the father flew onto the green sofa, again back-first.

Within all this, Jack noticed the daughter racing back towards the door – in what was effectively a split-second decision, he grabbed the machine gun and fired shots into the wall next to the door. The daughter screamed in shock. "GET BACK IN HERE!" Jack yelled in anger. After a few seconds, she did and Jack turned his attention back to the girl's father. "Do you speak English?" he asked, putting his gun at him. "DO YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?!" he asked again, this time yelling. The father looked at him with a confused look and Jack realized there wasn't much point yelling in English. He didn't know much in the way of Russian or Ukrainian, but he gave a shot. "English?" he asked again, calmer and this time in Russian. After a few seconds... "You.. don't sound Russian" the father said, finally speaking in English. "I'm not.. I'm American. I'm sorry if I surprised you but... it's a long story.." he said, looking back towards the man's daughter and then to his wife.

–

16:07:01PM

 **London**

The flight Chloe and Belcheck were taking to America was an Airbus A380 – the largest passenger plane in the world. How on earth Jack managed to book two tickets for this flight at such a late stage was a mystery, but Chloe didn't mind – after some searching, they found their seats. Jack had not only secured them a row to themselves in economy class, but he'd also secured them a cabin at the very bottom of the plane, which was only accessible by elevator. Belcheck went in first and took his seat next to the window whilst Chloe sat down a seat away from him. As the plane filled up by the second, Belcheck lend in to speak with Chloe. "Will your family be happy to see you? I mean, how many years have you been away?" he asked. The former CTU analyst sighed as she realized the Serb didn't know her full background. "I've been here about... 2, 3 years. But I don't have any family..." she started to explained. "I had a husband; he was British and we had a son together...".

Belcheck stopped. "Had?" he asked, with a hint of concern in his voice. "Yeah – they... they're dead. Morris's car collided with a truck when I was in prison, an accident..." Chloe said, shaking. She had only just learnt the truth – ever since she heard of the death of Morris and Prescott, she had believed the story that their deaths were planned, as revenge for her helping Jack in outing President Allison Taylor and the Russians over the events in New York. However, shortly before being taken as hostage by the Chinese less than a day ago, she had learnt the truth from a dying Adrian Cross – their deaths had indeed been an accident and he had lied to her about it in order to keep her in the now-defunct hacker group Open Cell. Belcheck's eyes rose in shock. "I... I'm so sorry, I had no idea" he said, lost for words. "It's ok – and I don't have any other family. My parents and I aren't speaking, I'm an only child.." Chloe added. She had never told anyone about her family, not even Jack. Belcheck slowly nodded, understanding and sympathetic. "All my family is dead. They were killed over a decade ago – the government tried to blame Kosovo militants, but I know it was them!" he said, showing signs of anger as he spoke.

Chloe looked over in utter surprise. "That's why I joined the Serbian mob, try and get revenge. Was in it for longer than I can remember.. then Jack saved my life a few weeks back.." he went on to explain. Chloe didn't know what to say – she had been mourning the loss of her family for a few years but Belcheck had been mourning for over 10 years! He must have nerves of steel to keep on going like that. She decided to change subject. "Well, going back to what I was saying, I think it takes about 7 to 8 hours to get to Washington DC – I mean, when I came here, it took 7 to 8 hours so I guess the same length.." she said, realizing she hadn't answered the Serb's second question. Belcheck nodded and looked back in front of him. Chloe looked around and noticed that the number of people coming onto the plane was starting to dwindle – that might mean takeoff is imminent as when she checked in, she noticed the luggage being taken off almost instantly. At least they'll be in the air soon.

Meanwhile, further down the plane and emerging from the elevator outside of business class was Hermann. He squeezed past two flight attendants and found his seat. Storing his bag away, he sat down next to a man wearing what looked like a shirt of the Croatian flag. Hermann nodded at him. "Is everything prepared?" he asked the man as he sat down. "Yes.." the man said, speaking in a Croatian accent. "We have what is needed stored all over this plane – when the word is given, then we will strike". Hermann nodded again. "I have news from the Marina Cell – they have secured their target and are heading at maximum speed to the East Coast of America. By the time they find out..." he added, simply giving a sly smile as he finished. The Croatian seemed to understand that. "One thing puzzles me, though - how will we find out when to move? Can't exactly use phones or the like." he asked. Hermann smirked. "All in good time, Jelavic".

Down in the belly of the plane, meanwhile, there was a knock on the door to one of the cabins. "Come in!" a voice in Romanian said. The door opened and in came a woman wearing a flight attendant uniform and carrying several suitcases of different suits. "Here are the last of the cases, Avram" she said also in Romanian, handing them to a man wearing a pilot's uniform. "Good. Thank you, Golea. We'll be taking off in 15 minutes and I need to get to the cockpit, so I need you to prep these and take them, including the ones on the bed, to the right people" the man, identified as Avram, replied. Golea nodded. "How's your practising of an American accent going?" she asked, trying her best at sounding like she was from the States. "I don't know about you, but people will see me taking and think "he's a Dixie!" Avram said, smiling and speaking like he was from Atlanta. Golea couldn't help but smile. "I've spoken with the rest of Airborne Cell" the Romanian said, returning to his native tongue. "As soon as I get the message, I'll relay a message to the passengers. Then we'll strike" he explained before moving to leave. As the door closed, Golea returned to the suitcases. She opened one up to find 2 machine guns and 2 hand-guns...

16:11:35PM

–

17:16:01PM

 **Ukraine**

In the minutes after Jack had revealed he wasn't Russian to the family, he'd instantly moved to help the mother, who suffered from a slight bump to the head but nothing serious, to show he wasn't a threat, and now all four people were sitting around the kitchen table, each with a mug of tea. "So... if you're not Russian, why are you here? In fact, why are you here to begin with?" the father asked first after a few seconds of silence. Jack sighed as he thought about what to say. "Well, to explain that, I better introduce myself... you may not have heard of me, but I'm Jack Bauer!" he explained. The father and daughter exchanged a look of confusion but clearly Jack's name was familiar to the mother as she spoke next. "As in... the Jack Bauer who murdered about 20 Russians in New York just to uncover a conspiracy?" she asked in shock. Jack nodded – no lying about it. Then the father spoke next. "Of course! I know who you are now – but that doesn't really explain why you're here.." he said. He didn't sound suspicious, just curious as to why a wanted man in Russia was in the Ukraine of all places.

Jack smirked. "Well, ok... I'm on the run from... well, actually, I don't know WHO I'm on the run from. I had surrendered to the Russians this morning and literally about 30 minutes ago, the helicopter I was in was shot down. At least according to a survivor before he died... he thought he saw Russian soldiers and Ukraine rebels both trying to kill me..." even as he explained, it still sounded completely far-fetched. The baffled looks on my family showed that's what they felt as well. "Are you sure that's the case?" the daughter asked. "That Russian could have been easily mistaken". "Maybe so, but then he sacrificed himself to let ME escape. If it was just soldiers, he would handed me over but this was a case of Russians firing on Russians. Does that make sense to you?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrow at the trio. They exchanged looks – it didn't make sense. "Ok, enough of me being questioned... who are you and where are I?" it was his turn to ask."Borys Dmytro" the father spoke first again, before indicating to his daughter and wife. "My lovely daughter Mariya and my wife Tetyana". Jack nodded. "And where am I, exactly? How far away is Kiev?" he asked, pushing for an answer.

But then he saw Borys bit his bottom lip. "Borys... where. Is. Kiev?" he asked sternly. "It's... it's a good 3 hours from here and that's by car. Long story short, Mr. Bauer, you're literally in the middle of nowhere" the Ukraine national explained. Jack's face dropped. "There must be a city near here, surely?" he asked. Mariya shook her head. "I'm afraid not – nearest city is 2 hours by car" she explained. Jack looked crushed – more crushed than when he learnt about Audrey's death, more crushed than when his former boss Bill Buchanan had sacrificed his life in the White House, even more crushed than when Kim had reacted badly to learning that he was still alive during the Sentox conspiracy. He was quite literally stranded in the middle of nowhere – no backup, no help, no contact with anyone. "Excuse me..." he said quietly before getting up and walking out. "Mr Bauer?" Borys said. "I'll be in the barn if anyone needs me" Jack replied quietly before leaving. He needed some alone time.

–

17:19:20PM

 **Airspace above the Norwegian Sea**

At current speed and location, Air Force One was flying near to the Icelandic coast – whilst it wasn't on the original flight-plan, it did give a chance for those on the plane to catch a glimpse of the country and put their minds at ease a bit. Only a bit, but anything to distract them from the sombre mood occupying the presidential plane. On the advice of exchange agent Andrew McKaye, President Heller had decided to focus on the speech he would have to give the nation over not just about what happened in London but also about his current condition – he could still keep going but the chances were he'd have to resign from office within the next 12 months. Heller had spent about 15 minutes coming up with it – it was times like this when he could really have Audrey by his side to help him out. Or Mark for that matter – but of course, his former Chief of Staff had managed to set in the chain of events that had led to Audrey's death. Forging his signature and signing off illegally on documents to hand Jack over to the Russians, which in turn led to the Chinese killing his daughter.

He had reached up to the point of the hospital attack by Margot Al-Harazi when there was a knock on the door. "Yes?" he asked. A Secret Service agent walked in. "Sorry to interrupt, sir, I just felt you should know that the military jet carrying Mark Bordreau has taken off. They're about an hour behind us, sir" the agent explained. Heller almost crumbled his paper in anger at the sound of Mark's name but he kept calm. "Ok, thank you" he said. The agent nodded to close the door when Heller interrupted. "Actually, if you have a moment, agent..." he said. The agent turned his head back around. "...have you or anyone else on this plane heard from Jack Bauer at all?". The agent frowned. "Can't say I have, sir. I don't think any of us have heard from him ever since he killed Ching Zhi" he replied. Now it was Heller's time to frown. He'd pardoned Jack for what happened in New York and he wouldn't have been stupid enough to hang around for the Russians. "Should I ask London to look for him, sir?" the agent asked. "No... no, thank you, son. But if he does make any sort of contact, be sure to let me know!" Heller responded quickly. The agent nodded. "Yes, sir" he said before leaving and closing the door after him.

Now Heller was confused. Why would Jack go off the radar so soon? He'd escaped detection by both the US and Russia for 4 years and considering he'd been pardoned, he would have pulled every trick in the book to get back to America without the Russians finding him. The President sighed, still partly confused by it and finished off his glass of water – he should go see Audrey's body. He got up from his chair and headed to the door. Outside were two agents as was expected. They looked surprised to see Heller up and about. "Mr President.." one said, keeping his surprise masked. "I was heading to the cargo bay, I wanted to see Audrey's body" he explained. "Very well, sir" one agent, Masters, nodded and led the way whilst the other agent went behind him. As they walked, Heller could see agents and personnel all over the plane stopping whatever they were doing, watching as he went by. He knew that they knew of his mental state and he was convinced the first questions that came into all of their heads was, "Is he alright? Will he be alright?".

Of course, in his mind, there were only two answers to those questions. "No, I'm not alright. I never will be alright. Let's face the facts: I'm dying, my mental state is a mess and my only remaining family is now dead". After several seconds of walking through the plane, Heller and the two agents finally came to the hatch for the cargo bay. Agent Masters pulled on the handle and it slid up, propping into position against the stairs to the cockpit. Heller looked at the two agents. "If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to spend this time alone.." he asked calmly. The agents looked at each other for a moment but nodded. "Very well, sir. If you need anything, we're right here" the second agent replied. Heller nodded twice at that and headed slowly down the steps. The coffin was right there in front of the steps, draped in the flag of America from top to bottom. He headed towards the top of the coffin and pulled the large flag back – lifting the top half of the lid up, he saw the still and cold body of his daughter. Heller sighed again and removed his glasses – a tear rolled down his eye...

–

16:24:17PM

 **London**

Inside the cockpit of the Airbus A380, the pilot and the flight engineer were already seated and waiting for the first officer to arrive. "We need to be taking off in about 10 minutes, Bob. What's Neil?" the flight engineer asked, showing signs of impatience. "I know you're annoyed, Jackson, but I got a call from Air Traffic Control – Neil's called in sick so they're sending a relief man" the pilot, who had been called Bob, explained. Just then, the door to the cockpit opened and Avram walked in. "Talk of the devil!" he added. "I apologize for the delay, had to be filled in on the flight – I'm Dave Pertwee" the Romanian said, putting on his rather convincing Dixie accent. "Hey, Dave – Bob Black, captain" Bob shook his hand. "Jackson Lightspeed" the flight engineer cut in rather too aggressively. Both "Dave" and Bob looked at him. "Sorry, I'm just... I just want to take off now" he said rather sheepishly.

"Well, I'll find out through the flight attendants if loading is nearly complete.." Bob offered and he moved to pick up the phone next to the control panel. As Lightspeed moved his chair slightly back to his own panel, "Dave" pulled a small pager out of his pocket. With a simple press of the middle button, a message of "In position" was sent.

–

 **Northern Sea**

At the controls for the Yuri Kolgorukiy, a red button on the panel suddenly started beeping on and off. Aralica moved for his headset. "General Benediktov!" he called into it. After a few seconds of silence, " _Has the message come through?_ " he asked. "Yes sir! Airborne Cell are in position, sir! Just waiting for the plane to take off" the Croatian responded. " _Excellent.._ " Benediktov said. "Carry on overseeing communications, Aralica!" he added in as he continued to walk around the submarine. He had every faith in his subordinates.

–

17:26:00PM

 **Ukraine**

Jack was currently inside one of the two barns on the farmsite – he sat on a bale of straw as he watched outside the barn from the top level. He'd only been alone 8 minutes but he was no closer to coming up with an idea on what to do. For the first time in his life, he felt alone. Properly alone. Yes, he'd been alone when he'd fled America shortly after the incident in New York, but this time... he felt truly alone. He was trapped in the middle of nowhere, in an unknown and partially war-ridden country – what was worse was that very soon, Russian soldiers across the country would soon find out and considering the attack about 40 minutes ago, he could only assume that so would Ukraine rebels. He had no form of contact with the President or with Chloe and Belcheck and he had no way of getting to Kiev without being spotted. It was completely unlike him to think this considering everything he had been... but Jack was now starting to fear the worst. Could his time be really up? After everything that had happened in his life, to him losing Teri to nearly dying in the nuclear explosion that claimed a dying George Mason's life to nearly dying from that prion variant, could he really be facing the end of his life here?

Suddenly, he heard a creaking of the barn ladder and looked behind him to see Mariya coming up. She smiled at him. "Hey.." she said. Jack smiled back, suddenly grateful for some company. He couldn't figure out why, but Mariya reminded him of Kim – she was beautiful and just so caring, even to those who caused her harm. Even during the Drazen incident, Kim found herself gaining feelings for one of the boys who had kidnapped her and had gone out of her way to find him to make sure he was safe. "I'm sorry for doing that... I just reacted badly to finding out where I was" Jack said a bit sheepishly. Mariya sat down on another bale of straw. "It's ok.. my parents are concerned for you. They know who you are from the media, they know what you did during New York and... for you to act like this, is just unlike you" she explained. Jack nodded – she was right. "I mean.. didn't you then flee America? Technically you were on your own then so why would this be any different?" she asked further. Again, she was right in Jack's eyes. "I guess... whilst I was alone 4 years ago, I always had an idea of where I was going. I made sure to steer clear of war-ridden countries and to steer clear of Russians and Americans. Here, though.. I've got Russians potentially all around me and it's a country I know nothing about" he finally explained.

Mariya seemed to nod at this. "And I can't stay here either... sooner or later, Russia will twig that I'm here and they'll send every single soldier they have to find me. They'll kill anyone who dares stand in their way" Jack added. "What about stealing a car here to use it to get to Kiev? You could easily take a plane to Poland or Germany – Russians can't get you there" Mariya asked. The American had thought about that. "It is possible but it would have to be done in stages – even the slightest slip-up could result in me being exposed. It's not worth it, they'll kill me as soon as they spot me" Jack admitted. He was really trying to come up with a viable way out of the Ukraine but nothing seemed to be foolproof. "Well.. if needby.. just stay here. It's risky, I know, but you'll soon learn that no-one gets on the wrong side of anyone in this area. We'd go to hell and back to protect anyone from the Russians.." The teenager offered. Jack looked at her for a few seconds and lightly smirked. "Sorry... it's just... you're just like my daughter. She would do whatever possible to protect someone – she even donated her stem cell to stop me dying many years ago!" he explained.

For a few seconds, Mariya just stared at him and smiled. "I appreciate everything, sweetheart, but... I don't know. I just don't know what to do right now – I guess, if I am going to work out a plan out of here, it'll need time" Jack finally spoke. He could see concern in her eyes. "But.. for the time being, I think I might stay here. However, at the first sign of danger for anyone living here, I'm going. I refuse to let anyone die because of me..". At that, Mariya smiled. She may have only just met Jack but she was relieved that he wasn't going to rush away just like that. She made to stand. "Let's get back to the house" she suggested. Jack slowly stood when suddenly, what sounded like an air raid siren started sounding. "What's that?" he asked. Mariya stood still for a moment as she seemed to take in the siren but her eyes widened in alarm. "RUSSIANS! We need to get to the bomb shelter!" she shouted and she jumped down from the barn level without bothering to use the ladder. Jack quickly followed, wondering "What shelter?". The two ran out of the barn and back into the house, where Borys and Tetyana were standing by the living room door. "COME ON!" Tetyana yelled in her native language and the four ran out of the house. As they ran down a large stretch of road, Jack noticed streams of people running towards a large flat building. As that was where they seemed to be heading, he presumed that must be the shelter.

They finally neared the building, where a tall bearded man was guiding people in through the doors. Jack headed in first, followed by Borys and the girls – following the group of people, they headed down some wooden steps and round a corner to a large basement where about 30 people were already standing. "We should be safe down here" Tetyana told him as more people started to join the group.

17:29:21PM

–

16:33:10PM

 **London**

Shortly after "Dave" had sent his pager message, the Captain had found out that boarding and loading was nearly completed and that they could take off earlier than expected. Just 5 minutes ago, loading luggage had been completed and boarding was closed – final count came in at 401 passengers and a crew of 19. Just then, the cockpit phone rang. "Yes? Ok, thank you" the Captain answered it. "Everyone is aboard, Air Traffic Control has given permission for me to taxi to the runaway and we can take-off in 10 minutes" he revealed. Admittedly, he was a bit surprised that they were being allowed to leave so soon after boarding and loading had finished but he thought nothing of it. "Thank heavens! Can't wait to get out of here!" "Dave" commented in relief. Lightspeed and the Captain gave looks of surprises but then realized he had a point – after all, it had nearly a day following attacks on London by hijacked US drones. Despite concerns by pilots, the Prime Minister had decided to keep air traffic flowing as he had been convinced by President Heller that no further attacks would follow.

"Let's talk to the natives!" the Captain joked as he picked up his radio from the panel. "Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain Bob Black speaking. For those of you joining us here in London, welcome to United Airlines Flight 681. I'm pleased to announce that we will be taking off very shortly – _I would recommend you all buckle down within the next few minutes and I'll radio through again when the seatbelt light comes off_ ". Down in the cabin, Chloe had buckled her seatbelt in. For the past few minutes, she and Belcheck had been in silence despite attempts by each other to keep themselves talking. Belcheck was about to fasten his seatbelt when a flight attendant came up to him. "Excuse me, sir" she asked and the Serb looked up. With the flight attendant was a young pregnant woman. "Would you mind moving along a seat at all? It's just this young lady's pregnant and these are the wider seats". Belcheck looked at the pregnant woman. "Not a problem" he said and he got up, sitting next to Chloe. The pregnant woman mouthed a "Thank you" as she was helped into the seat by the attendant. The Serb buckled himself in and just seconds after the woman got her belt on, the plane jostled a bit. They were on the move. Chloe instantly grabbed the handles of her chair, nerves showing.

"You ok?" Belcheck asked. Chloe nodded. "You not a fan of flying?" he pushed. She nodded again, really nervous. "I just get outright terrified. The flight here years ago was just awful – had to have oxygen by the flight attendants" she explained through deep breathing. "Why didn't you say before?" she was asked. "I didn't want to come across as weak for something like this..". Belcheck instantly grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Chloe looked up in surprise. Belcheck looked at her, with sympathy in his eyes. She managed a slight smile as the plane continued taxiing to the runaway.

–

17:36:12PM

 **Ukraine**

The stream of people coming into the shelter had gradually slowed over the last minute and the tall man who had been at the door came down at last. He spoke in Ukraine to everyone in the shelter though of course it went over Jack's head. "I'd say everyone is down here – if we just keep quiet, I think they'll be gone before we know it" Mariya quickly said and Jack realized she'd pretty much translated what the man had said. "Thanks.." he quietly said and had a brief look around – it was pretty much just like a bomb shelter with metal walls all around. There was a brief gap in one of the walls which led to what looked like a surveillance system but nothing spectacular. The tall man then made eye-contact with Jack and came over. He appeared to say something to him but of course, Jack knew very little Ukraine. "He says he doesn't think he's seen you before, Jack" Borys said before speaking in Ukrainian to the man. "Papa is introducing you, Jack and lying about why you're here" Mariya translated. The man looked at Jack again and held his hand out to shake. "He says he's Anatoliy and the part-time padre for this area" Tetyana again translated. Jack shook his hand.

"Ask him if I can have a look at the surveillance if it is surveillance" the American asked. Tetyana translated and Anatoily rose an eyebrow but still nodded in agreement. Jack walked over to the large computer and switched it on. Within seconds, black-and-white images of outside came into view. On one of the screens, Jack spotted a Russian convoy arriving and several soldiers getting off a truck. "Russians are here, tell everyone to be quiet!" he quickly said and Tetyana translated to all the people in the shelter. Silence descended within seconds. Jack kept a careful eye on the screens as he looked across at each one. The Russians didn't seem to be going anywhere near the flat-roofed building, for now at least. "Ask if Anatoliy has any explosives" he quietly told Mariya who translated. "He does but they're upstairs" came the question in Ukraine, followed by the English translation. Jack nodded. "It's just for in case" he added as he moved across to his right to get a better look at the screens... and then felt a shifting lump beneath him.

Kneeling down, be pulled back a floor panel and found within it a small memory stick. "What's this?" he asked Anatoliy. The padre moved closer and then gave a look of surprise. He spoke in Ukraine which was again translated. "That's my daughter's memory stick! She left for a tour of Europe a few days ago and told me she had it with her!" Mariya said, speaking for the padre. Jack was partially suspicious – it's understandable for someone to leave something behind by mistake but why would someone leave their memory stick in a strange place and then lie about it? "Would you mind if I checked it? Someone doesn't seem right" he asked. Tetyana translated and Anatoliy agreed. Jack plugged it into a USP port and a folder showed up within seconds. But then a black square also came up. "Looks like it needs a password.." Mariya said and eyes focused on the padre. "Try Bipa" he suggested after a few seconds of thought and Mariya translated once more. With the help of Tetyana, Jack typed it in and it seemed to work. "Bipa seems a strange password" Jack commented. Anatoliy quickly replied and Tetyana translated; "Bipa was the name of my wife – she died in America in 2001, during the terror attacks on New York. My daughter was only 6 at the time".

Jack felt utter sympathy for the padre – losing your family can be hard on anyone. Keeping an eye on the screens at the actions of the Russian soldiers, he opened a folder and was taken aback when he came across a photo of what looked like a Russian missile. "Mariya..." he indicated for her to come over his shoulder. "I might need your help translating.." he said as he minimized the photo and opened another folder. This time, he came across photos of what looked like an Airbus A380. Then more photos of the Russian missile with what looked like multiple warheads. Trying another folder, Jack came across what looked like a large interactive map. The screen came to life as a large logo appeared on it. "A.F.E – Allied Forces of Europe" Mariya translated the logo into English. The map then showed a flashing light around the Greenland area and straight red streaks of light flying away from what appeared to be the United Kingdom.

Suddenly, there was a red explosion over what appeared to be the Ukraine area. "Phase 1 – Kill Jack Bauer".. Mariya translated, completely shocked at what she read. Jack was just as shocked and continued to watch the map – suddenly, near the Iceland area, the streaks turned black and text appeared on the screen. "Phase 2 – Hijack Flight 681" Mariya again translated. As the black streaks appeared to move closer to America, yellow flashes started appearing all the US portion of the map; the flashes seemed to congregate around one certain point. "Phase 3 – Distract Heller enough whilst Statewide Cell infiltrate Washington DC" Mariya said and slowly stopped as what she heard sunk in. The two watched in silence as the flashing light near the Greenland area suddenly turned into a green line which moved down the Northern Ocean and turned towards the US. Within seconds, the yellow flashes turned red and suddenly exploded.

"Phase 4 – Destroy... Washington DC..." Mariya said slowly. Jack could not believe what he was looking at. Quickly, he moved off the map and clicked another file – in the map's place came what seemed to be an audio file. Mariya moved to translate the file:  
 _  
"Is everything ready on your end, Krylenko?"_

" _Yes, General. My father believes the lie about the tour of Europe – I should be in Russia within the next day and that's only so I don't have to encounter border problems"  
"Excellent news. Have you heard from Hermann?"_

" _Yes, General. Airborne Cell have infiltrated London. They will strike as soon as the flight clears Scotland in three days time. Oh and General?"  
"Yes?"  
"I have heard from our American ally – he has received the plans to infiltrate Washington DC and will initiate when the orders are received. But he has warned us to be careful with Jack Bauer – he thinks Bauer will survive the helicopter shoot-down"_

" _I wouldn't worry too much, Krylenko – Russian and Ukraine forces will find out he is alive and they will pursue him where-ever he goes. He will not get out of the Ukraine alive"_

" _Yes, General. After this, America will regret getting involved in European matters..."  
"Oh, they will, Krylenko. They will..."_

As the recording ended, Jack sat back in shock as he allowed the news to sink in – he had just stumbled across a plan by terrorists to destroy Washington DC. And they had an American ally; that could be just about anyone. Now the attacks by those gun-men made sense – they were trying to eliminate him there and then, so that he wouldn't try and escape the Ukraine to stop the attacks. Within seconds, shock was replaced by anger, much like a day ago when his shock at learning about the death of Audrey turned into anger and he proceeded to massacre Ching Zhi's gang and stop a potential war. He may be in the Ukraine... but he wasn't going to sit by and let terrorists destroy the capital of America and possibly President Heller either. Jack owned him that much. He got up and headed for the stairs, stopping at the corner. Slamming his fist on the wall, he got the attention of those in the shelter. "LISTEN UP!" he yelled and Tetyana quickly translated for everyone. "I NEED VOLUNTEERS FOR UPSTAIRS – we are going to blast those Russians above us into the heavens and beyond! Raise your hand if you want to help!" he finished. A few seconds after Tetyana translated, no-one rose their hands. But then Mariya did, followed by Tetyana. Borys was not far behind and neither was Anatoliy. Finally, about 10 other people followed suite. Jack gave a grim smile. He had no idea where this anger and encouragement had come from.. but he knew damn well that as far as he was alive, no-one was going to destroy Washington DC and live to tell the tale.

17:44:03PM

–

16:51:54PM

 **London**

United Airlines Flight 681 stood at the end of the runaway, waiting for the go-ahead. In the cockpit, final checks were being made by the flight crew. "Engines?" asked Captain Black. "Coming up to full speed" Lightspeed replied. "Flaps?" the Captain asked. "Ready" "Dave" replied. "Ok..." the Captain acknowledged and at that exact moment, the radio buzzed. " _This is Air Traffic Control to Flight 681, come in, over_ " a distorted voice said. The captain moved to pick up the radio "This is Captain Black. Everything ok, Tower, over?". " _Roger, Captain Black, everything is a-ok. You are cleared to take off, have a good flight back to the States_ " came the reply from the tower. All 3 members of the cockpit crew smiled. "Thank you, Tower! Well, guys, we're finally on the way!" the Captain declared. At that, the plane finally began to move along the runaway. In the cabin, the plane was slightly shaking which was not unexpected. Belcheck grabbed Chloe's hand and squeezed it tighter than he had before. A few seats down, the pregnant lady was looking at the two of them and smiling.

At long last, the wheels for the plane left the runway and it took off into the clear sky. "Easy does it, fellows" Captain Black said as he moved to activate the landing gear. The wheels came back up into the plane as it started to climb further. "Dave" took the chance to pull out his pager and send another message. This time, it read "Plane has taken off. We're ahead of schedule, will commence Phase 2 on your command". He pressed the send button

–

17:53:12PM

 **Northern Sea**

Much like earlier, Aralica spotted the red button on his control panel flashing. "General! We have confirmation – Flight 681 is airborne and Airborne Cell are ready to commence operations at your command!" he instantly spoke into his headset when he saw the message come through. " _Excellent work, Aralica. Everything is going as planned – you let me know the moment the first attack begins!"_ General Benediktov responded over the headset. Aralica looked at Dragusha and Chadli. "Yes, sir" the Croatian confirmed. He was nervous but excited as well.

–

17:54:00PM

 **Ukraine**

The last 10 minutes had been both tricky and nerve-racking – everyone who had volunteered to help out had had to do it as quietly as possible so that the Russians didn't catch on. Jack kept a close eye on the Russians outside, who were storming the abandoned houses in their hunt for him. As he kept guard, Ukrainians armed themselves with the explosives and weapons that Anatoliy had – they ranged from machine guns to rocket launchers and even plastic explosive. Jack was curious as to why they'd had it but he realized that the fact they often had to evacuate to the bomb shelter for fear of the Russians showed that they were intending to fight back but just lacked the courage. Finally, they were ready. Tetyana and Mariya were positioned on the building roof with machine guns, whilst Borys and Anatoliy were positioned with a rocket launcher and grenades on the building ground-level. To the back and side of the building were the remaining 10, also with machine guns. "Ok, now we're in position, Jack – what next?" Borys asked. Jack looked at him and smiled, before heading towards the door. "Jack?" Borys asked again, alarmed. The American opened the door and walked out into the sunlight. "JACK?" Borys yelled again. Ignoring the cries of his name, Jack walked out and down onto the slight slope. The Russians had not yet noticed him. This might seem risky and stupid in the eyes of many but he had a feeling it would work.

He stopped at the end of the slope and waited. About 10 seconds later, one of the men, a Ukraine rebel, turned around and also did a double take. Jack smirked. "IT'S HIM! IT'S BAUER!" the rebel yelled in Russian. About 25 to 40 Russians and Ukrainians heard his yells and looked towards the building. Jack become emotionless and slid onto his knees with hands on his head, expecting that was what he would be told to do. Several rebels grabbed their guns and pointed them at all, in case he tried anything. "Get up, get over there!" they yelled. But they had a feeling he wouldn't understand them so they also indicated with their heads and hoped he would understand. He did. "It's working, I think..." Mariya told her mother from the roof as they watched Jack being walked towards the back of a large army truck – he shook his head several times. "I think that's the signal!" Anatoliy noticed and he instinctively grabbed the rocket launcher. "Fire the trigger!" he ordered Borys who scrambled to the window. With a simple click backwards, the rocket fired and launched straight into the truck. Jack instinctively saw it from the corner of his eye and fell to the ground... just as the rocket hit the back of the truck and exploded. All the soldiers and rebels were caught by the explosion and Jack leapt to his feet.

Within seconds, Tetyana and Mariya opened fire from the roof. Whilst some caught on to what was going on and fell to the ground, others were caught in the crossfire and shot. Grabbing a dead rebel's gun, Jack started to fire on the surviving men until he ran out of bullets, to which he moved behind the back of the burning truck. He threw his gun over the truck, which was a signal to those waiting at the side. "NOW!" one of the Ukrainians at the side of the building yelled and the 10-strong group charged out, guns a-blazing. It was safe to say that the soldiers and rebels did not see that coming – Jack had thought about just firing straight at them but then they'd charge into the building and potentially massacre those in the shelter. Having himself seemingly surrender before launching a sneak attack would, and did, catch them off-guard. The fourteen people who helped Jack looked around in surprise – they couldn't quite believe it was them who did that. Mariya looked around to try and see the American but instead, she saw what looked like a UAZ-469 Vehicle coming towards them. At the wheel was Jack.

"Hey... well done" he smiled at them. He thought they had done really well in killing the rebels and soldiers and he actually couldn't believe it had gone as simple as that; he was expecting things to go a lot tougher and even thought one of the volunteers would be killed during the assault. He was about to drive off when Borys stopped him. "Wait... are you going somewhere?" he asked. Jack looked back and turned off the engine. "I have to go, yes... Anatoliy, I'm afraid to say that I found evidence on your daughter's memory stick of a planned terrorist attack on Washington DC. It seems the helicopter shoot-down was planned as I thought.." he explained, whilst Borys translated into Ukrainian for the padre. "I may be in the middle of nowhere.. but I'm not going to just sit by and let my country be attacked, no matter what they've done to me.." he further explained. The four looked shocked at Jack's explanation. "Are you sure that's the case? Are you sure you're not mistaken?" Tetyana asked. "That's all I can say... but I WILL say this and you tell this to everyone downstairs – pack up as much as you can and get out of here. Russia will sooner or later twig that I was here and they'll tear this place apart twice over to find me. I'm not going to let you or anyone else be killed.. so just pack everything up and get out of this area. Go see family, go see friends, go to the city... Just pack up and don't return!" he replied, explained and warned. The four looked at each other, taken aback by what he was telling them.

"Trust me, just get out of here... and one more thing – let me know you're safe. Get in contact with the White House in a day or so and just let me know. I know we've only known each other for less than an hour but seriously..." he added finally. After a few seconds, Mariya nodded. Like Jack had said, they'd known each other for less than an hour but he'd put his life on the line to protect them and much like them, he hated the Russians. "Fine, we'll get out of here" Borys agreed. Jack nodded. "Thank you.." he said and turned on the engine. "Jack..." Tetyana said suddenly. The agent looked back up. "Good luck..". Jack nodded and he moved off down the road. At the end, there was a sort-of crossroad and he took the route to the right. As he rounded the corner, Jack knew full well that getting to Kiev and out of the Ukraine was a tall order. But he wasn't going to let DC be destroyed. He owed his country that much. He owed President Heller that much. And whilst Audrey was dead, he owed her that much.

18:00:00PM


	3. 3: 6pm - 7pm (EST)

**DISCLAIMER: SEE CHAPTER 1  
**

Your feedback and reviews are most welcome - do you think I'm any good at replicating the 24-format?

* * *

3: 6pm – 7pm (EST):

 **The following takes place between 6pm and 7pm, European Standard Time**

–

18:00:01PM

 **Norwegian Sea**

Air Force One was now halfway through it's flight back to America; it had cleared Icelandic airspace without a problem and was now heading for Canadian airspace. The pilots had been contacted by the US Air Force who advised them to fly just outside of Greenland airspace owing to a huge fire right at the south of the island but apart from that, the flight was expected to go without too much of a problem. Near the cargo bay, President Heller finally emerged as he came up the steps. His eyes were red and the two agents guarding the entrance to the bay needed no explanation on why. "You alright, sir?" Agent Masters asked. Heller sighed. "Not yet... but I will be. I needed that, let's be honest" he conceded. "Anything happen whilst I was down with Audrey?" he asked. "Not much to report, sir – we've cleared Icelandic airspace and are on schedule to reach DC within the next 3 to 4 hours. And the Vice-President rang, he has requested you ring him back within the hour, sir" the unnamed agent explained. Heller nodded as the three walked back to his office.

"Any word on Jack Bauer?" he suddenly remembered. "Nothing to report, sir. Whilst you didn't ask us to, we got in touch with London and they've got no confirmed reports on his location since last night. However, we can confirm that Chloe O'Brian is alive – she was last seen at London Heathrow around 4pm UK time" Masters replied. Heller nodded and was relieved to hear Chloe was ok. Jack had pushed him into giving her a pardon even though she'd committed no crime in the eyes of America whilst in London and he had obliged. "Are you sure Jack wasn't with her?" he asked. "Positive, sir – the only person that agents at Heathrow saw with Ms O'Brian was a tall, bald man. Reports checked him out as someone called Belcheck?". Despite his condition, Heller had an idea on who Belcheck was – he was Jack's unofficial Serbian partner during the London incident and had personally driven him back to 10 Downing Street following the missile attack on Wembley Stadium. "Well at least we know Chloe is alive and in safe hands" he said as the three arrived back outside his onboard office. "But let me know if you hear ANYTHING from Bauer.." he requested. He knew he had asked several times but he just needed to know if he was safe. "Of course, sir" Masters nodded.

Heller walked back into his office and sat down on the sofa. "Come on, Jack... where are you?" he asked quietly. Whilst he still had to deal with both his planned speech to the nation and his daughter's death as well as speak to the Vice-President, the whereabouts of Jack still weighed heavily on his mind. Something just didn't feel right.

–

17:04:01PM

 **British Airspace**

United Airlines Flight 681 had been climbing for the past 10 minutes and at long last, they had reached 35,000ft. The journey to Washington DC could now go smoothly. "When should we be clearing Scottish airspace?" "Dave" suddenly asked. Captain Black looked up from engaging the plane's autopilot. "At this present speed, we should be clearing the very north of Scotland before the hour is out" he confirmed. "Dave" nodded, that was exactly the news he wanted to hear. But Black was now getting a bit suspicious – ever since Dave had arrived in the cockpit, he had asked the odd question about when they'd take off, where they would be at a certain time, etc. "You've been asking questions ever since you came in here, Pertwee – most of the things you've asked, you should know the answer to as you must have flown over here recently" the flight engineer asked, just as suspicious. "I'm only curious! I just this plane to be out of British airspace as soon as possible – is that a crime?" "Dave" replied in frustration, almost giving away his Romanian accent. Black and Lightspeed were taken aback by Dave's angry reply. After a few seconds, the first officer sighed. "Sorry.. just the last few hours have got me on edge – I mean, considering the attacks in London, I'm worried we could be shot down at any point. It could still happen at any point of the flight, yes, but the chance of it happening is still more likely whilst we're overflying the UK" he apologized.

"No, we're sorry, mate. We're just as on edge as you and we shouldn't have pushed" Black was first to speak. "Dave" smirked, indicating it was ok. "We should let the passengers know they're free to move about – who fancies a drink?" he asked. "Oh, now you're talking! I'll take a hot chocolate!" Lightspeed said with a big smile. "Dave" nodded and turned to his captain. "Captain?". Black picked up his radio and looked back at his first officer. "Oh go on.. I'll have the same!" he replied. "Ok, I'll be back in a few minutes" "Dave" said as he opened the cockpit door. He walked down through business class and heard his captain speak over the radio system throughout the plane. " _Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I'm pleased to announce that the seatbelt sign is now off and you are free to move about the plane_ " he heard as he walked down the stairs to where the flight attendants were positioned. The captain continued to talk over the radio as he arrived at the drinks area – there, he spotted Golea who had taken on the name of "Serena". She looked up and saw her Romanian comrade. "Hi, what can I do for you, sir?" she said, speaking in her improvised American accent. "3 hot chocolates for the cockpit crew" "Dave" said with a smile. Another flight attendant came through and greeted the first officer as she left with a drinks trolley.

The moment she left, "Dave" leaned in to "Serena". "Are the cases ready?" he asked quietly and in Romanian. "Yes – as soon as I have a chance, I will retrieve them and hand them out to the rest of Airborne Cell. Then we will wait for your order" she replied. "Good" he simply said. "When will you know that the time is right?" she asked. "We'll be waiting on General Benediktov – he will send me a message via pager and I will work that into a plane-wide broadcast" was the reply. She nodded and the two moved apart as another flight attendant came through. "Be careful – the pilots are getting a bit suspicious, might not be long until possibly the flight attendants follow suite" he warned. "Serena" nodded.

Further down the plane, a shaking Chloe unfastened her seatbelt and grabbed a travel sickness bag – she proceeded to hyperventilate into it. Belcheck watched her with utter concern; she really was not a fan of flying. He grabbed her arm. "You ok?" he asked. She stopped breathing into the bag. "I will be.. could you get me some water?" she asked. The Serb nodded. He got up and suddenly remembered the pregnant woman, who had been watching the two of them. "Oh, do you want me to..." she offered. Belcheck shook his head and instead jumped over the seats into the row behind them, which was empty. As he walked off, the young lady turned to Chloe. "This your first time flying?" she asked. The former CTU analyst smirked slightly. "No, I've flown before – I just hate flying, that's it. Flown here from America years ago and had to be given oxygen by the flight attendants" she admitted. "Well, at least you've got your boyfriend with you for company" the lady replied. Chloe stopped and looked back. "Oh... we're not together. He's just a friend of mine.." she said, looking back over the seats at the Serb who was walking toward the attendant area.

Belcheck squeezed past a few standing passengers and headed into the attendant area. He saw what looked like the plane's first officer and a flight attendant talking quietly to each other. "Excuse me" he said and both instantly looked towards him. "I know you'll be coming round but could I get some water now please? I have a friend who has a fear of flying.." he asked. After a few seconds, the attendant smiled. "Sure, yeah!" she said, pulling a large bottle of water from a nearby trolley and handing it to him. "If your friend doesn't feel any better, let an attendant know" she added with a smile. Belcheck nodded and walked back towards his seat. As he left, the two imposters breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close" "Dave" said, speaking quietly in English. "Yeah.. though, he sounded Serbian. What if he was actually a member of the Cell?" "Serena" asked and her colleague shook his head. "I checked out the profiles of the Airborne Cell members – he wasn't on them. I shouldn't worry about him" he said. Little did both know, however, that Belcheck was listening to them. Airborne Cell? What was that about? Still suspicious, he walked back towards Chloe.

–

18:09:12PM

 **Ukraine**

Jack had been driving for about 9 or 10 minutes at the fastest speed the vehicle he was in could go, simply following the same road that he had been on since he left Borys and his family. The sun bore down in his direction as he drove, trying to make sense of any road signs that he came across. He had an atlas of the country in the vehicle's glove compartment but since he had no clue about where in the Ukraine he was, it was almost academical. He could only keep on driving until he found something or someone and in a country that potentially could have Russian soldiers or Ukraine rebels around the next corner, it was very much a "needle in a hay-stick" situation. But he knew he had to get to Kiev, which he did know was in the centre of the Ukraine and get out of the country now. Nothing else mattered.

Finally, he came to what appeared to be a crossroad of sorts – he had a choice. Go straight ahead and just follow all the country routes or join the main road and see what it takes him. In what was effectively a split-second choice, he chose to go left and take the main road. He'd be more likely to find someone should he fall into trouble if he went on this road. At least, he hoped he could – frankly, if Ukraine rebels were trying to kill him, then he couldn't trust anyone he came across. As he drove, he thought to himself. Why does this keep happening to him, being on his own with no backup and no-one to trust when he was trying to uncover the truth or something alike? It happened on the day of the Republican Presidential Primary when he was trying to find his family, it happened when he was trying to prove the innocence of three Middle Eastern countries with only Sherry Palmer for help following the detonation of the nuclear bomb and it happened during the attacks on Washington DC and he only had Tony to help him; and that was even before Tony revealed his true side in the whole affair, using everything from the attack on the firewall to the invasion of the White House and even the prion variant just to lure out the head-honcho of the Sentox nerve gas conspiracy, the man who had ordered Michelle's killing.

All Jack could do was hope that if he did find anyone, they weren't associated with the rebels. He noticed that the sun baring down on him was starting to set – it would be dark soon, which would both hinder and help him; hinder as it means he'll have to find a way to Kiev in the dark and help as it meant both the Russians and Ukrainians would not be able to find him as easily. Part of him was contemplating stopping in an empty house and waiting until it was dark; on one side, he was shattered and he had not slept well over 24 hours. But on the other hand, the terrorists could then strike whilst he waited. He had to press on. As he drove the car over a hill, he then noticed something – it looked like a village, but it seemed empty and abandoned. It looked like the only way through on this road, Jack thought. In the end, he chose to drive through. Maybe there's someone where he can pick up a few things – change of clothes most importantly. He had been wearing these same clothes for quite a few days in a row now and he needed to find something new. He was coming down the hill and reached level ground, as he slowly entered the village. From a better glance, he saw a few rows of shops on both sides followed by a large number of houses dotted around all over the place.

It was then he noticed that the village was a mess – cars were on their sides, shop windows smashed in, everything. No wonder the place looked abandoned. It was almost as much as a mess as the town "Deadline" was shortly after he'd fled New York. But why is it abandoned? Did people leave all of a sudden? Jack stuck his head out of the car window and that's when he heard it – the rumbling. He looked ahead and could see several lights looking like they were coming towards him! Moving the car gear up into 4th, he charged forward and made the first left, towards a collection of houses. Braking after about 15 seconds, he spun the car around so that he could get a proper look at what it was he'd gotten out of the way of. Picking up a pair of binoculars sitting on the front passenger seat, he looked into them and witnessed a large tank go past the sort-of crossroad. Followed by several army Jeeps, a small truck and soldiers, one holding a flag of Russia. "Sh*t" Jack realized in horror – he had stumbled across a Russian platoon. Of all the people he'd been trying to avoid, he just had to stumble across a Russian platoon. He couldn't drive out, they'd see him. He couldn't walk out, he'd either be back to square one or he'd be discovered. He couldn't steal an Army jeep like the one he was driving, that would result in a huge chase and Russia unleashing the full force of its army on the Ukraine just to find him. "What now?" he muttered to himself.

18:16:01PM

–

18:20:30PM

 **Northern Sea**

Down within the dark ocean, the Yuri Kolgorskiy moved like a bat out of hell and as quiet as a shark. Inside, it was just as quiet. Aralica, Chadli and Dragusha were all at the controls, waiting for the indication that the next stage of operations could at long last begin. All they could do was wait for the right order and at the minute, you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. There was the odd bit of small talk between the Romanian and Serbian pilots but that was it. Finally, a button on Aralica's console started beeping rapidly. After further inspection, the Croatian spoke into his headset. "General Benediktov! Priority one call coming on, priority scramble – it's our American ally!" he said perhaps a bit too loudly. " _Thank you Aralica.._ " the General replied. "..Send it down to the lowest level phone!" he added, as he stood by a small phone hooked on the wall. After a few seconds, said phone rang again and he pressed 1-2-3. "Yes?" he spoke into it. " _ **HOW GOES THE PLANS, GENERAL?!**_ " a gruff and distorted voice came through and the General rose an eyebrow. "You've changed your voice" he said.

" _ **THAT IS NOT ME. I AM TALKING TO YOU IN MY OWN VOICE – AND THIS HAS ANSWERED MY NEXT QUESTION! IT MEANS YOU HAVE THE SUBMARINE AS OTHERWISE YOU'D HEAR ME AS I AM WITHOUT THE ONBOARD SCRAMBLER!**_ " the distorted voice replied. The General nodded. "My apologies. In response to your earlier question, the plans are going well – Airborne Cell are in position and waiting for the go-ahead, Statewide Cell are waiting for their own order to infiltrate Washington DC..." he explained but seemed to tail off, a bit uneasy at what was coming next. " _ **AND? WHAT ABOUT EASTERN CELL?**_ " the mysterious voice pushed. "We have not heard from Eastern Cell in over an hour – last report said they had shot down the helicopter but there was no sign of Bauer. Their radio silence means that they are either actively hunting for him or they've been killed. But as it is, we've heard nothing" Benediktov replied with a hint of reluctance in his voice. " _ **SO, IN OTHER WORDS... THAT MEANS JACK BAUER IS POTENTIALLY ALIVE?!**_ " the voice demanded. "We don't know – we won't until we hear anything. But Eastern Cell know their orders" the General insisted. " _ **I'M TRUSTING YOU ON THIS, BENEDIKTOV! EVERYTHING WE'VE WORKED TOWARDS WILL BE COMPLETELY AT RISK IF BAUER MAKES IT OUT OF THE UKRAINE!**_ " the voice replied with a lot of anger. Benediktov sighed. "I appreciate that. But look, Eastern Cell know what they have to do. They will pursue Bauer to the outskirts of Chernobyl if absolutely necessary. They WILL find him" he replied.

" _ **THEY BETTER, BENEDIKTOV – IF THIS OPERATION IS TO SUCCEED!**_ " the voice almost yelled. Benediktov knew this wasn't going too well. "One more thing – are you ready to put your plan into operation?" he asked. " _ **YES. WHEN I HAVE CONFIRMATION THAT AIR FORCE ONE IS ON THE GROUND, I WILL STRIKE BEFORE THE DAY IS OUT!**_ " the voice replied with a sigh, before continuing. " _ **GIVE ME AN UPDATE, ON THIS NUMBER, IN THREE HOURS!**_ " it added before finally hanging up. The General returned the phone to its hook and picked up his headset. "Aralica" he spoke into it, addressing the Croatian. " _Yes, General?_ " he replied. "Try and make contact with Eastern Cell – if you don't have anything after 10 minutes, return to your original duties" Benediktov ordered. " _Yes, sir!_ " came the instant reply. Benediktov walked off down the submarine. Their American ally was right – he had personally read Jack Bauer's file. If he got out of the Ukraine unscathed, their whole operation had the potential to go up in smoke. Eastern Cell simply had to find him NOW.

–

18:24:02PM

 **Ukraine**

In the minutes following his discovery of the Russian platoon, Jack had temporarily abandoned his vehicle and was now spying on the platoon. The sun was now half-set and the sky was beginning to turn dark. From looking through the binoculars, Jack could see the platoon gathering around the large tank. He saw three soldiers emerge from within it, possibly the drivers and two others take 2 large cases from one of the Army jeeps. It was safe to say he didn't expect the soldiers to pull what appeared to be plastic explosives from the cases. "Why do they need plastic explosives when they have a tank.." he asked himself quietly. Sometimes, he thought he knew the Russians and other times, they just do something that isn't in their character. He looked through the binoculars again and saw the plastic explosive now being stuck onto the tank. This didn't make sense to Jack at all. "What are you bastards doing?" he muttered to himself. Then he realized. "You bastards are making a booby trap!" he said, though perhaps a tiny bit too loud.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers looked back and Jack had to rapidly move around the corner of the building he was next to. After a few seconds, it became apparent that the soldier didn't see him. He was now half-contemplating just taking his stolen car and fleeing regardless of what happened. But then an idea dawned – a potentially dangerous one but at this stage, he'd take any idea. He quietly moved back to the Uaz-469 and towards the back, to see if anything was inside that could help him. He found several machine guns, a few grenades and... a Russian officer's uniform, One of the people killed 30 minutes back must have been an officer of sorts. Then, another idea dawned on Jack – if only there was something he had that could cover his face, then he could lead the platoon on a chase and claim to be a survivor of the attack that he had lead. His Russian had slightly improved in the years since New York and if he could determine where the platoon were headed next, he could join them and get that much closer to Kiev. It seemed strange and extremely risky but at this present stage, he'd go with anything. He rummaged around and finally found a black balaclava underneath the pile of machine guns. Grabbing the officer's uniform, he threw it into the front of the Uaz and then picked up two machine guns – he was going to lure the platoon out of the village under the belief that he was a survivor of the attack and they were Ukraine rebels!

Putting the balaclava on, he started up the Uaz and slowly drove back towards the crossroad. "Here goes nothing.." Jack said out loud and he charged the Uaz forward, grabbing his machine gun and firing multiple shots at the soldiers as he drove left, away from the platoon. "UKRAINE SCUM!" he yelled at ttem in Russian. He looked through his car-door wing mirror and saw the platoon scrambling to their Jeeps. "Let's do this.." he smiled as he drove through what appeared to be a wooden barricade and out of the village. The sun was nearly gone from the sky, so Jack had to hope and pray that they would spot him – slowing down could be costly.

18:30:21PM

–

17:35:10PM

 **British Airspace**

Since returning to his seat, Belcheck had kept quiet about what he had heard – whilst he still had suspicions about what he had heard, he didn't want to cause a panic over something that was possibly nothing more but a red-herring. Thankfully, Chloe seemed to be alright since he had gotten her the water and she appeared to be a lot calmer. Over the past 15 minutes or so, the two and the pregnant woman had engaged in a bit of chatter, all whilst Belcheck kept a close eye on the flight attendants area for anything out of the ordinary. After a bit, Chloe stopped and moved to get up. "I just need to use the bathroom. Would you mind helping me over the seats?" she asked the Serb – she wasn't too willing to walk past the pregnant woman. With a nod, Belcheck lifted the former analyst up over the seats with almost no effort. She smiled as to say "thanks" as she headed past the elevator, only to walk straight into a trolley that came out of the elevator. With a clatter, Chloe fell onto the floor whilst two large suitcases followed.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, miss!" the person who had been operating the trolley was "Serena" who instantly moved to pick Chloe up. What the flight attendant didn't realize, however, was that as she helped Chloe up, the analyst had seen one of the suitcases opened and seen several guns inside. She put her head in her hands, pretending she hadn't noticed the suitcase. "Are you sure you're ok, miss? I should have seen where I was going!" "Serena" exclaimed, her voice full of regret. Chloe shook her head repeatedly. "Yeah... I'm fine. Don't worry" she smiled before walking off. Her face suddenly changed to one of shock as she headed for the bathroom – what were guns doing on a plane? As she walked off, "Serena" quickly regathered the suitcases and put them back on the trolley. "That was close – at least that woman didn't see anything.." she muttered in her native tongue. As she came through economy class, she quickly noticed Belcheck – even though Avram had told her not to worry about him, she couldn't help but feel a tad concerned. What if he had heard too much? When she had finished handing out the suitcases, she had to get him out the way. As she approached the first member of Airborne Cell, she quickly put her thoughts on hold. "Excuse me, sir!" she told a young man sitting alone. All she knew about this person was that he was Bosnian and one of the first members of the cell to get a seat on this flight. "Captain Black asked me to give you this, compliments of the flight crew" she told him whilst handing him a suitcase.

"Thank you" he said quietly and she moved on. One down, countless more to go. Thank god Avram was prepared.

–

18:40:54PM

 **Norwegian Sea**

Onboard Air Force One, President Heller was looking over his speech so far – he had chosen to write it all at once in case he forgot later down the line. He was interrupted by a knock on his office door. "Come in.." he said and looked up as MI-5 agent McKaye walked in. "Sorry, sir, the Vice-President is on the line" he explained and Heller realized; he had forgotten to phone him after he said he would! "Thank you, McKaye" he said as he moved to pick up his phone. "Line 1, Mr. President" the MI-5 agent explained before leaving. Heller picked up his phone and pressed 1. "Tim, I'm so sorry! I completely forgot you had rung!" he started.

–

 **American Airspace**

"No worries, Mr President. I know the situation – first off, I am so sorry to hear about Audrey" Vice-President Tim Marshall replied as loudly as he could, seeing as he was currently aboard a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter which was currently heading towards DC from the North East. Heller sighed over the phone. " _Thank you, Tim. To be honest, the last few hours have been a blur – how's things at the White House?_ " he asked. "Ok, I guess. Everyone's shaken by the news, though I must ask – what on earth happened that had the bloody Chinese involved? And did I hear that Jack Bauer was involved?" Marshall replied. Heller sighed again. "That, Tim.. is a long story. To be honest, can it wait until I'm back in DC? All you need to know is that we owe the Chinese reparations.. and yes, Jack Bauer was involved. But not how you think.." he said, trying to remember what happened at Wembley. " _I see..._ " Marshall said, an unsure tone in his voice. Heller didn't speak for another few seconds – the mention of Jack had bought his concerns back up. "James?" Marshall spoke. " _Oh! I... I'm sorry, Tim. Listen, I'm landing within 3 hours. Could this wait? I have something to admit that I'd rather say in person_ " the President replied. "Fair enough, James. I'll see you when you land" the Vice-President agreed and Heller hung up. As Marshall handed the nearest agent the phone, he couldn't help but feel worried.

"Something wrong, Mr Vice-President?" another agent asked. "I... don't know to be honest. Something feels a-miss with the President. And I don't think it's the loss of his daughter" he admitted. As he sighed and put his head in his hands, the agent put the phone back on its slot.

Down on the ground, a police car was driving down a side-road on approach to the main road. Inside, a police officer looked both ways and was about to move onto the main road when he heard a massive explosion. Shaken by the sudden sound, the officer looked out of his windscreen mirror just as he saw a large helicopter crash to the ground at a rather fast rate and slide along the road. Rushing out of his car, the officer grabbed his radio. "Arlington P.D, this is Police Car #27! Require urgent medical assistance, Helicopter crash on road leading into Arlington!" he yelled into it. He moved towards the burning wreckage, when he saw the logo on the side. His jaw dropped in horror as he realized it was one of the presidential helicopters. "Arlington P.D, downed helicopter is that belonging to the White House! Repeat..." he started again, only to stagger forwards and down onto the ground. Walking towards the helicopter was a tall man, who had a rocket launcher in one arm and a gun in the other. Convinced the officer was dead, he placed the gun back in his holster and picked up a radio. "Report: the Vice-President is dead. The attack can begin!" he spoke grimly.

–

16:45:05PM

 **Ukraine**

The sun had now fully set and the sky above the Ukraine was as dark as it could be. Jack's Uaz-469 continued its charge along the road, followed not too far behind by the Russian platoon's Jeeps. Jack looked out of his door mirror – they were close enough that they could see. With a sudden swerve of his arms, he drove the Uaz off the road and down an embankment, landing in front of some rocks. Quickly unbuckling his seatbelt, he forced his way into the back of the vehicle with the uniform. If he was going to trick the Russians, he had to do it fast.

16:45:45PM

–

16:50:06PM

By now, the Russian platoon had more than caught up and many soldiers had surrounded the Uaz-469 with guns raised. A Russian Sergeant emerged from one of the Jeeps and walked down the embankment, stopping next to a soldier. "Since the bastard won't come out, fire a warning shot!" he told him in Russian. The soldier nodded and fired twice, both times missing. "THIS IS YOUR FIRST AND ONLY WARNING – COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS RAISED OR THIS TIME, THE BULLETS WILL NOT MISS!" the Sergeant yelled. Now was Jack's chance to put his Russian into practice. "How do I know you're not Ukraine rebels?" he asked in the same language as the sergeant, who simply rose an eyebrow. "Come out and have a look – do we look like rebels?" he asked. After a while, Jack kicked the back doors open and emerged hands-up. "I don't know, you might do. After that, I thought I trusted my own Platoon but they were rebels in disguise!" he said, speaking as he emerged. The sergeant's eyes rose. "S...SIR!" he said, saluting and then moving forward towards Jack. "No!" he said, putting his hand up quickly. "Can we... switch to English at all?" he added. The sergeant looked around and nodded. "Explain, sir, what happened?" he asked in English.

Jack sighed. "It was about 40 minutes back – my platoon was driving through a small settlement when we fell under attack from rebels. Only there were rebels disguised as soldiers within the platoon. I barely escaped with my life..." he explained, trying hard to keep up his fake Russian accent. The sergeant nodded. "I thought you were rebels and that's why I fled.." Jack added. "Well, don't worry, sir. You're safe now – though may I ask about the balaclava?" the sergeant asked. "My face got slightly burnt in my bids to escape. I've plastered it up but trust me, you're better off not seeing it, Sergeant..." Jack explained, hoping the Russian would buy it. "Akinfeev" the Sergeant explained. "That's fair enough, sir. I apologize for yelling and threatening to kill you" Akinfeev said, full of regret that he almost killed a superior officer. Jack shook his head, indicating it was ok. "If you don't mind my asking, where are you headed to? It' just, I'm trying to get to Kiev" he asked. Akinfeev's eyes rose. "We... we were heading there as soon as we were done in the village, sir! We can happily give you a lift if you like!" he explained. Jack's heart was telling him not to do it – he ran every risk of being found out. But he knew he had no choice. "Thank you" he said, returning to Russian.

Akinfeev smiled and turned to the soldiers. "Move out! We're leaving in two minutes for Kiev! Officer Slutsky will be joining us!" he declared before marching up the embankment. The soldiers with the guns saluted Jack and followed their Sergeant. Jack was baffled as to why the Sergeant called him Slutsky of all things but then realized that was the name written on the uniform below the Russian army logo. He headed up to what appeared to be the main Jeep as Akinfeev held the passenger door open. "You first, sir!" he smiled and Jack got in. As long as he kept silent and avoided any questions, he would be safe.

–

18:54:29PM

 **Northern Sea**

At the helm of the Yuri Dolgorskiy, the red button at Aralica's controls started flashed repeatedly. The Croatian analysed the message. "General! We have confirmation! The Vice-President is dead, the attack can begin!" he yelled into his headset. " _Thank you, Aralica! Some good news! Send the message to Airborne Cell_!" Benediktov commanded over the headset. "Yes, sir!".

–

17:54:53PM

 **British Airspace**

At that exact same time, Flight 681 was overflying the very very north of Scotland. In the cockpit, the pilots were receiving their last orders from Scottish airspace. " _Just a reminder, Flight 681, that you'll be passing the Shetland Islands within the next minute. After that, you'll be required to make any form of contact with Vagar Airport and then Air Traffic Control all throughout the Norwegian Sea. Otherwise, enjoy your flight back to America"_ the thick Scottish voice over the radio explained. "Roger that, Air Traffic Control. We will, out" Captain Black said, smiling as he spoke. Right next to him, however, "Dave" had an uneasy look on his face. The message to attack should be coming through any second now. Finally, he felt a buzzing in his jacket pocket – pulling out his pager, he read the simple message. "Attack go-ahead!". He knew what this meant. "Dave... the pager..." Black said suddenly and the co-pilot instantly turned it off. "Sorry, I forgot to turn it off. Be right back" "Dave" said as he got up and left the cockpit. As soon as he closed the door, he immediately went up the stairs – right in front of the stairs was the elevator and beyond that, business class. He stared ahead and found Jurgen Hermann, who spotted him. "Dave" gave a hand signal of one and walked through first class to the air conditioning plant.

Down in business class, "Serena" placed the now-empty trolley within the flight attendant station and walked back towards Belcheck, who was silently reading an in-flight magazine. Chloe had not yet returned. "Excuse me, sir." she asked and the Serb looked up. "Could I talk to you for a minute? Something has come up about your booking and we've just realized" she lied. Inside, Belcheck was suspicious, but he still nodded. "Of course" he said, getting up and jumping back over the seats. He leaned down to the pregnant woman. "Should my friend come back, tell her I'm in the cabins.." he said quietly. The woman rose an eyebrow at why she was being told this, but she silently nodded. At that, the Serb followed "Serena" to the elevator. As the doors opened, Belcheck spoke up. "Why do we need the elevator?" he asked. "Privacy, sir, I'd rather we spoke down there than up here" came the response. The two walked into the elevator, just as Chloe came out of the toilets.

Within the air conditioning plant, "Dave" had found a small suitcase hidden under pipes and had opened it up, revealing a small revolver fully loaded with bullets and a smoke canister. Placing the suitcase back under the pipes, he then hid the revolver within his uniform and left the plant. Walking back into first class, he eyed up the passengers within the compartment and threw the canister, which rolled straight into the entrance for passenger class and hit the wall with a clink. Hermann looked up and spotted the canister starting to leak smoke. As the rest of business class noticed the rising smoke, the German struck. Launching himself from his seat, he charged through the compartment entrance and down the stairs to the cockpit. With a heavy slam, he bashed through the door and held his gun at a stunned Captain Black. "GIVE ME THE RADIO!" he yelled and the Captain hastily handed it to him. "Attention, passengers..." he said, his voice now heard throughout the plane. Chloe stopped just as he approached her seat row. " _I'm afraid this flight is going to experience some turbulence..._ " she heard a voice with a German accent explain. She instantly looked at her seat and noticed Belcheck wasn't there. "Where did Belcheck go?" she asked the pregnant woman, who looked up, surprise on her face from the announcement. "The cabins..." she said uneasily and Chloe ran to the elevator.

As soon as "Dave" had heard Hermann's announcement, he pulled his revolver out. "Nobody move!" he instantly yelled, reverting back to his Romanian. Throughout the plane, gun-men rose from their seats and started to move about the cabin, guns in hands. Startled passengers started to recoil in fear and their screams could be heard from the below-deck cabins, where Belcheck and "Serena" had finally emerged. "What's... going on?" he asked, unaware that the flight attendant was now several inches behind him and with a gun in her hands. She slowly started to walk towards him, as the cabin doors opened and further passengers came out, having heard the screams. "WOAH, WOAH!" one of them yelled and everyone looked to see the gun-holding attendant. "I'm sorry, Mr. Serb..." she said now with her Romanian accent, clicking the gun and preparing to fire. "...you may know too much and I can't risk that" she smiled. Just behind her, the elevator doors opened and Chloe emerged – she recoiled as soon as she saw the attendant. "CHLOE!" Belcheck yelled and Chloe didn't know what quite came over her, but she charged forward as Golea began to turn to face her. The two collided and the gun flew into the air, as Golea threw herself on top of Chloe, having brandished a knife from her jacket. Belcheck prepared to move to save Chloe, but then noticed the open elevator doors – if the plane was being hijacked, they'd come down here. He instantly ran for the elevator and made it in with seconds to spare.

Golea had her knife inches from Chloe's heart, but the former analyst gained some strength and wrestled for control of the knife, finally grabbing it and forcing it into the Romanian gun-holder. Golea gave one last gasp before collapsing onto the floor, the knife having gone through her heart. Chloe scrambled to her feet, shocked at what she had just done. She looked up and saw the faces of the passengers who had witnessed the whole thing – she looked around for Belcheck but she couldn't see him. "Belcheck? BELCHECK?" she yelled, gasping rapidly.

In the cockpit, Lightspeed rapidly forced the cockpit door closed and locked it. He looked up with visible shock at Hermann who simply turned back to face the captain, radio still in hand. "What... what is this?" Black asked, eyes still wide at the events of the last 60 seconds. The German smirked. "What have you done with Dave?" Lightspeed asked. "Dave... or as we properly know him, AVRAM, is quite safe – in fact, he should be rounding up hostages as we speak" Hermann said, smugness in his voice. He bought the radio close to his mouth and pressed down on the red tab. "Your attention, passengers!" he spoke. " _This is your new captain speaking – do NOT be alarmed. As long as the President of the United States follows through with our quite reasonable demands, none of you will be harmed. That, I give you my promise – it is regrettable we have been forced to do this but the President has left us with no choice_ " his plane-wide announcement was heard by everyone, including Chloe, who had several thoughts racing through her mind: "Where was Belcheck? Why did the guy over the plane intercom sound familiar? Did I just kill her?", the last one referring to the now dead flight attendant. But perhaps the biggest thought of all... "Just what the hell was going on?"

19:00:00PM


	4. 4: 7pm - 8pm (EST)

**DISCLAIMER: SEE CHAPTER 1**

Again, feedback would be appreciated - and apologies if some things don't seem right in terms of schematics (i.e. the Airbus A380), I'm just going on research.

* * *

4: 7pm – 8pm (EST):

 **The following takes place between 7pm and 8pm, European Standard Time**

–

19:00:01PM

 **Canadian Airspace**

President Heller looked out of his office window, down through the clouds where he could just about make out the Canadian coast – in just a few minutes, they'd be overflying Canada and entering the final stage of their flight back to DC. But to be honest, Heller wasn't thinking too much about that – he was thinking about his own future. Considering the circumstances in which the Prime Minister of Britain found out about his dementia, he wouldn't be too surprised if the news had spread across the world to all the other world leaders like wildfire – the pressure on him to resign before his condition became too serious would be huge. But he could possibly take a positive from that when he spoke with the Vice-President, he didn't touch on his condition which meant either he'd hadn't found out yet or he did know and he just didn't say anything.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in" the President said without looking. Said door opened and a Secret Service agent walked in. "Mr President, White House just phoned me.. they would have phoned you directly but they were unsure if you could be reached.." he explained. Heller turned around, concerned. "What's wrong?" he asked. "The White House has lost contact with the Vice-President, they can't reach him and the helicopter he was in... has dropped off the flightpath.." the agent, identified on his badge as Merton, explained. Heller walked back to his seat, taken aback by this news. "I was only talking with Tim about 20 minutes ago.. is Washington sure it's dropped off the flightpath?" he asked. Merton nodded. "Air Traffic Control in Arlington has it on its radar, but then it disappeared unexpectedly" he insisted. The President sat down, now worried. If it dropped off the radar, that could only mean one thing. The worst. "Let me know the moment anything is confirmed" he told Merton who nodded. "Sir" he said as he left. As the door closed, Heller was visibly troubled. Absolutely nothing had gone right in the past 48 hours – first Mark, then Audrey, then the country being on the brink of World War Three and now Vice-President Marshall. What was going on?

–

 **Norwegian Sea**

Several hours behind the President was the hijacked Flight 681. Throughout the plane, gun-men were forcing groups of standing hostages back into their seats roughly. Overseeing all this was Avram who was standing in front of business class, whilst another gun-man kept an eye on first class. His pager started beeping rapidly and messages of "Secured" started coming in. He was expecting to see 13, discounting him and Hermann, but he only got 12 – and he realized Golea hadn't paged in. Never-the-less, he typed up a quick message on the pager reading "Plane secured. No further contact unless absolutely necessary" and sent it.

–

 **Northern Sea**

On-board the Yuri Kolgorskiy, Aralica's console started beeping as it had done whenever messages were coming in.

–

 **Norwegian Sea**

Confident General Benediktov had gotten his message, Avram bought a portable radio to his mouth. "Plane is secured, Marina Cell notified. However, I appear to have lost contact with Golea.." he spoke. Within the cockpit, Hermann picked up a headset and heard the end of Avram's message. "Roger that, Avram. Any idea on where Golea was during the attack?" the German asked. The Romanian quickly scrolled through his pager and paused. "Sh*t..." he swore in his native language. " _Avram_?" Hermann asked. " _I just found a message from Golea prior to the attack_... she said she was going down to the cabins to get rid of someone who she thought knew too much" came the reply. "Wait.. have any members of Airborne Cell taken hostages that were in the cabins?" the German asked, almost in a rush. Avram scrolled back through his pager. "Negative! There must still be passengers in the cabins!" he almost shouted. Hermann's face turned grim. "Go down to the cabins, bring anyone down there up here. Shoot to kill if you must!" he ordered. " _Sir!_ " came the instant response over the headset.

Hermann turned to Captain Black who looked up with a face of shock. He simply smiled. "Give me the phone" he ordered and whilst the Captain almost hesitated, he handed the German a built-in phone. Hermann typed in several numbers slowly.

Down below-deck, Chloe finally got to her feet, helped by a young man. Since the shock announcement over the plane radio, nearly everyone who had come out of their cabins had just stood where they were.. except for three others who were standing around the elevator, wondering why it wasn't working. "Thanks.." she told the man who'd helped her. She looked around, still looking for Belcheck until there was a sudden clanking from within the elevator. "Chloe!" a slightly muffled yell was heard and the people who were standing in front of the elevator looked towards Chloe, who walked slowly towards the group. After a while, there was an even louder clanking. "CHLOE!" the muffled voice was slightly louder and Chloe realized. "HELP ME OPEN THIS!" she yelled at the group and she instantly tried to prize open the heavy doors. After a few seconds, one of the members of the small group rushed into one of the cabins – he finally emerged, brandishing what appeared to be a pipe and helped Chloe in opening the doors. Much to their surprise, they saw the elevator half-way up the shaft and Belcheck visible to them all. He sighed a relief as Chloe and two men pulled him out.

"What the hell? You abandoned me?" Chloe demanded, now furious the Serb hadn't tried to help her with the knife-welding flight attendant. Belcheck caught his breath. "I had to stop the elevator – I've pressed the emergency stop; whoever is up there can't get down here now! We're safe.." he explained through breathes. "Safe from what, though?" one of the men asked. "What the hell is going on?". Belcheck looked up at him and everyone else. "This plane has been hijacked. By who, I don't know, but it has been hijacked.." he explained and everyone's faces dropped in shock. "Like I said, I've hit the emergency stop on the elevator.. They won't be able to get down here..." the Serb further explained. Suddenly, they held a large crashing sound from the deck above them. Chloe quietly walked up to a young couple as the crashing continued. "Do you have a laptop at all?" she asked. The couple looked at her in surprise. "COME ON, YOU STUPID THING!" Avram yelled as he kicked the doors to the elevator shaft. He again bought his radio to his mouth. "It's no good, sir.. I can't access the elevator! Something must be blocked it!" he explained in exasperation. He heard Hermann sigh over the radio. " _Or someone, Avram..._ I think the people down below may have caught on to us" the German replied, the cockpit phone against his right ear. " _Do you want me to get down there?_ " the Romanian asked. "No.. no.. just leave it for now. Besides, what can they do down there to take this plane?" he replied, almost with a hint of sarcasm. " _Very well.. Avram out.._ ". Hermann frowned – whilst he said the people below deck couldn't do anything, he had absolutely no idea WHO was down here.

–

19:08:12PM

 **Ukraine**

The now-visible moon brightened up the dark Ukraine sky as the Russian platoon drove through the scenic countryside. For the most part, the journey so far had been in utter silence; just what Jack had wanted. He still had no real idea on how far Kiev was, so he would just have to hope Sergeant Akinfeev wasn't in a chatty mood as that would run the risk of him being found out. Yes, he'd been undercover several times and had pretended to have allied with the enemy before but each of those times were planned – even when he was involved with the Salazars, breaking him out to try and get a hold of the Cordilla virus had been part of a three-way plan with Tony and a deceased CTU worker called Gael. This time, Jack was posing as a Russian officer without even considering having a back-up plan. "You're... a bit quiet tonight, sir" Akinfeev asked suddenly. Damn it, Jack thought. "I don't really feel like talking if I'm honest, Sergeant" he replied quickly – his fake accent was rustier than earlier. Thankfully, Akinfeev didn't seem to notice the accent's rustiness. "Are you sure, sir? I mean, no disrespect, you're often known as being rather talkative.. did that ambush do something to you?" the Sergeant pushed for an answer. "Again, I'd rather not talk, Akinfeev" it was only two sentences but already, Jack was losing his patience at the Sergeant's inability to take no for an answer.

"That ambush with the rebels must have done something.. driver, pull over..." Akinfeev started to say, but Jack interrupted. "No, belay that order. Sergeant, I am fine! You are over-reacting..." he said angrily – he was close to yelling in English because of this idiot. The Sergeant rose an eyebrow but finally fell silent. "Very well. But for the record, this this is not like you, sir. Your report has you down as an officer who loves to gossip and as for why you haven't taken off the balaclava...". Whilst no-one could see him do it, Jack rolled his eyes. This was slowly falling to pot and he had to put a stop to it. He turned his head to face Akinfeev – time to build on the lie he had fed. "You know... I could order this convey to stop right now and have you shot for the insubordination you just showed me, Sergeant. I have already explained my reasons as to why I do not feel like talking and I have already told you and this platoon that I am wearing this balaclava to hide the facial injury I acquired whilst escaping from the Ukraine ambush. But since you're so intent on hearing gossip, here's a piece for you.." he said in a low toned voice and he came up with the first thing that came into his head. "...I hear US President Heller may have to step down as President – his daughter died in London and it recently came out that he has dementia..".

Akinfeev's eyes rose in shock. "...I knew... that someone on his London detail had died.. I just didn't think it was his daughter! But how do you know he has dementia?" he asked, taken aback. Jack should have stopped there to think about what he was going to say, but his angry side got the better of him. "I was there... members of the Russian embassy were in London to find Jack Bauer but he escaped and I was the only survivor. I came back over this morning and met up with the platoon in the same place that we were ambushed!" he continued. Akinfeev sat down, stunned into silence. "I... apologize, sir.." he said. Jack simply said nothing and sat back in his seat forcefully, crossing his arms. Hopefully, Akinfeev would keep quiet from then on. "Hold on, sir..." a voice said. Jack turned his head to the driver. "What?" he snarled quietly. "You said Jack Bauer. I heard somewhere he had surrendered to a Russian intelligence agent this morning in England – is that true?" the driver asked. Oh Christ, Jack thought, he had to come up with something fast - so he nodded slowly. "Yes, in fact I saw the Russian helicopter fly over us not too long before the ambush – he should be in Russia by now" he confirmed. The eyes of both Akinfeev and the driver rose. He knew this was risky but he hoped the admissions would shut them up. "We pursued Bauer for years and he just surrenders like that? Why?" the driver asked himself. Jack said nothing. He had said too much already and he was grateful neither of them didn't pry for more.

Suddenly, the radio buzzed. " _This is Russian Military Base #16 calling Platoon #50. Give your current status, over_ " the distorted voice said. All three people in the cab were caught off-guard and the driver picked up the radio. "Base 16, this is Platoon 50. We are currently en-route to Kiev. And also, we've picked up an Officer Slutsky – we found him in the village where we planted the booby trap, over" he explained. There were a few seconds of silence. " _Slutsky? Put him on, we've been trying to contact him for a few hours!_ " the voice asked and the driver handed Jack the radio. "This is Slutsky" Jack replied, speaking perfect Russian. "Officer _Slutsky, pardon the language but what the hell is going on? We haven't been able to contact your platoon since around 5pm – explain!"_ the voice demanded. "My apologies, sir – long story short, my platoon was ambushed whilst we were en-route to Kiev. I was the only survivor and by luck, I found this platoon whilst trying to escape" Jack replied calmly. There were what appeared to be even more seconds of silence. " _I see.. Very well. Well, I'm almost radioing in to give a warning to you all – as I'm sure some of you may know, Jack Bauer was captured by Russian agents this morning in London. However, just an hour ago, we discovered the helicopter used to transport Bauer – it had been shot down and we found no trace of him. Be on your guard, he's somewhere out there.._ " came the reply.

Jack's insides turned – this was not good. He would have to be even more careful now. "Very well – Slutsky out..." he replied and put the radio back. He turned to Akinfeev. "Let the rest of the platoon know the news – tell them to keep a very sharp eye out.." he ordered and the Sergeant nodded. He in turn reached for the radio as Jack decided on his next plan; if he was going to stay under the radar of the Russians and the Ukranians, he would have to get rid of this platoon. Now.

19:13:07PM

–

19:17:12PM

 **Norwegian Sea**

In the cockpit of Flight 681, Hermann still had the phone to his ear. He appeared to be stone-faced as the phone continued to ring. Finally, he smiled as the call he was making finally seemed to connect. Down in the cabins, Chloe was sitting on a bed, typing rapidly on a laptop whilst Belcheck and the young couple watched intently – everyone else had gone back into their cabins, under instruction of Belcheck. "What are you trying to do?" the Serb asked. "Trying to hack into the radio system in the cockpit, see what's going on" Chloe replied, not even looking up. The male of the couple looked almost shocked his laptop was being used to hack and attempted to speak up, but was stopped by Belcheck. "Don't worry, she knows her stuff. Laptop will be fine!" he insisted.

–

 **Canadian Airspace**

"Are you absolutely sure it's dropped off the flightpath?" President Heller asked, speaking into his office phone. " _Yes, Mr President, we are – we've checked and checked and the radar is working as normal_ " the reply came, presumably from Arlington Air Traffic Control. With a sigh, Heller replied. "Alright, thank you. Let me know when you get anything" he said before hanging up the phone, just as McKaye walked in. "Any luck?" the President asked. "No, sir – no-one has yet located the Vice-President or the helicopter" the MI-5 agent replied with a grimace. Heller shook his head. "It's not like Tim to disappear like this" he insisted. McKaye was about to speak again, when the phone rang rapidly, catching both off-guard. "Maybe... they've... literally just found him!" he suggested and Heller instantly moved for the phone. "Hello?!" he said without even allowing the bottom end of the phone to reach his mouth. However, what greeted him was not what he was expecting – instead of Air Traffic Control, he heard soft laughter. " _Mr President..._ " a man with a German accent spoke and Heller's face slowly dropped. "You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice, sir..." Hermann said, now sitting down with the phone against one ear and his gun raised in the air in his left hand.

"Who is this?" Heller asked quietly. He heard more soft laughter. " _All you need to know about me, Mr. President, is that unless you follow my demands to the letter.._ by the time it reaches midnight in Washington DC, you'll have 400 dead bodies on your conscience.." the German spoke. Down in the cabins, Chloe's constant typing paid off and all four people in the small cabin heard " _you'll have 400 dead bodies on your conscience..._ ". Chloe looked up in shock and the female of the couple put her hand to her mouth. On Air Force One, Heller put the phone down and pressed the speaker button. He mouthed "Get me the Pentagon..." to McKaye who left the room. "I ask again, WHO is this?" he demanded. "Now, now, Mr President, there's no need to get so pushy.." Hermann said almost smugly. "But since you're so insistent.. _I'll tell you. United Airlines Flight 681 has been hijacked. I have gun-men throughout the plane and they will quite happily kill all the passengers and crew..._ unless you follow my demands. And don't go with the standard "we don't negotiate with terrorists" facade... _as that will not help you.._ ". Nobody in the cabins could quite believe what they were hearing. "I recognize that voice.." Chloe said after a few seconds. Heller sighed. "Ok, suppose we don't have that policy, what is it you want?" he asked. There were a few seconds of silence before Hermann responded.

"Two very reasonable demands, Mr. President. Firstly, you will order the withdrawal of all American forces from countries across Europe, whether they be military or agency-based – and don't make the argument that your forces are not in Europe, _as we both know that there are_!" he explained, as Chloe continued to listen carefully, convinced she recognized the voice. " _Ok..._ and what's your second demand?" Heller asked. " _Secondly, Mr President.._ within the next hour, the White House will receive a list of names – by 8pm Washington DC time, when this plane is scheduled to land, we want all those prisoners released. And a warning to you, Mr President, we expect news on our demands soon. For every 15 minutes you try to stall us... _I will kill a hostage_ " the German replied, unaware that his chat with the President was heard by Chloe and those in the below-deck cabin. In spite of his mobster background in which situations similar to hijackings were common-ground, Belcheck was visibly shocked at what he had heard. For Chloe, something finally clicked. "I know him..." she said quietly, before looking up at Belcheck. "I know who's hijacked the plane!" she exclaimed. Heller's voice could be heard through the laptop, but to the four people within the cabin, it didn't quite register with them. " _Ok..._ I will look into this, I'll contact the Vice-President and we'll see what we can do.." he said; now, what he had said was a double lie. He couldn't just rescind the policy on negotiating with terrorists like that, but he couldn't let 400 people die. And he knew they hadn't found the Vice-President but he had to say something reassuring to this person.

" _I have no doubt about that... but I think you might have trouble speaking with the Vice-President. You can expect my next call_ " Hermann said, almost with a hint of smugness and sarcasm as he finished, before hanging up. Heller was utterly confused at that last comment and was about to speak into it again when McKaye ran into the office. "Sir, the Pentagon has been notified – they're expecting you to call within the next 5 minutes..." he explained, but as he finished, Heller noticed him make a face. "What's wrong...?" he asked. The MI-5 agent sighed. "Police just found a burnt-out helicopter on the outskirts of Arlington. They found the Vice-President's body inside..." he explained. Heller reeled at what he heard – the Vice-President was dead? How could that be? "What happened?" he asked. "At this moment, it looks like some kind of explosion took place – but we don't know if it was an accident or if someone shot down the helicopter.. I'm sorry, sir" McKaye added. Heller didn't know what to think. "They knew..." he said quietly. "Sir?" McKaye asked, curious. "The person on the phone... a plane en-route to DC has been hijacked.. the leader, he just said I'd have trouble speaking with the Vice-President. He knew about his death.." the President replied. Something didn't add up - what if the two events were linked? Was that an attack on America? It took several seconds before McKaye spoke again. "Sir... the Pentagon?" he asked. Heller looked up and nodded grimly, getting up and leaving his office.

–

16:21:45PM

 **Norwegian Sea**

Uploading on the laptop was a profile of who Chloe thought had hijacked the plane. "His name is Jurgen Hermann, he was a former agent of the German Federal Intelligence Service.." Chloe explained, having turned the laptop so Belcheck could see. The young couple were sitting on chairs on the opposite side of the cabin. "Ok, how do you know him?" Belcheck asked, crossing his arms. "Basically, a few months before the Sentox nerve gas conspiracy, we had an agent exchange with the F.I.S – Hermann came to work at CTU for 4 months. Everything seemed to be working great, but then I came across something suspicious on his file – turns out he had financed a group of terrorists to launch an attack on America, the same one that had forced Jack to fake his death.." Chloe further explained – she and everyone at CTU had not expected this as they thought they had found everyone associated with the attack by Habib Marwan, but sure enough, Hermann had been a financier of it all. "When everything was exposed, Hermann tried to flee the country and killed 10 people in the process – luckily, we caught him and the last thing I had heard was that he was serving time in a German prison" she added.

"I'm sorry, HOW do you all know this? Do you work for them, the government?" the male of the couple asked, rather irritated. Chloe looked up. "I used to.. CTU in Los Angeles, then New York" she admitted. The man slowly nodded. "Sorry, it's just... ever since this happened, I have no idea what to make of anything – and you two are just confusing matters!" he said in an apologetic manner. Chloe bit her lip. "You're right... sorry. Like I said, I used to work for CTU.. Chloe O'Brian" she introduced. "Belcheck." the Serb mobster added. The man spoke next. "I'm Kurt Townsend, this is my fiancée Gabrielle.." he introduced and motioned the woman next to him who smiled. Chloe was about to speak up when the laptop buzzed to life. " _Are you really going to kill everyone on this plane? You don't scare me, those demands don't seem like much.._ " a voice said – unbeknown to the four, it was the captain. Up in the cockpit, Hermann smirked. "Because they're not... besides, regardless of if the President decides to fulfil the demands or not, everyone on this plane is dead.." he said. Captain Black gave him a look of confusion. "The demands I gave the President – they're just a ruse. He may call us terrorists but we're just the beginning.." he said with a smile. Black looked back ahead only for Hermann to point his gun at his head. "And you're not going to tell anyone, are you?" the German asked. The Captain slowly nodded. "Good!" Hermann said, pulling the gun away. "When you said everyone on this plane is dead... _what did you mean_?" Lightspeed asked.

Chloe continued to listen intently, as Kurt and Gabrielle gathered around the laptop. " _Well, long story short, we have a little surprise hidden in the plane. Something that even Al-Qaeda wouldn't expect.._ ". The mood in the cabin turned dark. Not only was this hijacking not as it seemed, but it would appear they were hoping for Heller to make certain decisions.

–

16:25:00PM

 **Ukraine**

Coming over a hilly road was the Russian platoon – inside the front vehicle, Jack was still thinking over his plan. At the minute, the best plan he had come up was to get the convoy to stop and come up with some excuse to get them out onto the sides of the road, then use any grenades to blow up all but one of the vehicles, using that to get away from the platoon as fast as possible. Yes, that had its issues but it was better than taking a gun and shooting everyone up. " _Sergeant Akinfeev, come in, over!_ " the radio suddenly buzzed and Akinfeev reached for the radio. "This is Akinfeev, over. What's wrong, private?" he asked. " _I know this sounds stupid but can we stop for a piss break? We've got a few soldiers desperate for one and it's not like we're needed anywhere.._ " the private asked. Akinfeev sighed – they couldn't really stop but as it was, they weren't needed anywhere. "Very well, we'll stop for 5 minutes. Out" he said. Jack smiled inwardly – 5 minutes to solid-ate his plan Outside, the convoy came to a stop and soldiers started to climb out their vehicles. Akinfeev opened the door to the front vehicle and jumped out, followed by Jack who started to walk down the embankment by the side of the road. "Sir?" Akinfeev asked. "I won't be long, Sergeant" Jack insisted as he walked further and further away down the embankment – as soon as he thought no-one could see him, he took off the balaclava. This could have been a great opportunity to get rid of the platoon but it was too risky to try anything – he'd have to wait until there was another chance to stop and risk being found out.

He looked out into the distance, at the night sky and thought to himself. How the hell was he going to get out of this one? It was bad enough he was in a country he knew absolutely nothing about, but the fact that nearly all of the Russian army now knew he was somewhere in the country made it worse; not to mention the fact that he couldn't trust anyone Ukrainian in case they were out to get him as well. Not that he already knew it, he had to reach Kiev before the end of the day AT LEAST, completely undetected – if he stayed beyond midnight, the Russians would find him without a doubt. It was now or never. But then, something hit him; so far, the only person who had come close to identifying his true identity was Akinfeev. If he could get him out of the way somehow and lie to the platoon, it would go a long way in reaching Kiev. It sounds crazy but it might just work. Suddenly, he heard a rustling behind him and whilst he couldn't see where, he instinctively jumped back and crashed right into the Sergeant who fell onto his back. "What the hell, Sergeant?" Jack yelled, remembering to revert back to Russian. "With absolutely no offence intended, Sir, what the hell is going on? I just spoke with another platoon and they've reported no signs of an ambush where you said there wa..." Akinfeev started but as he got up, he made eye contact with Jack and froze. His eyes rose and his mouth dropped in shock. "Bauer..." he whispered and Jack instantly realized he had not put the balaclava on. Akinfeev instantly started to run back towards the platoon, but Jack was right on his tail, grabbing him and pulling him back for a punch.

Within seconds, the two started to brawl. "I should have known it was you all along! No-one tricks the Russian Army and gets away with it!" Akinfeev snarled as the two traded blows. Finally, after what seemed like ages, Jack got the upper hand and grabbed a large stone nearby, slamming it against the head of the Sergeant, who was knocked to the ground. "Yeah, well WATCH ME!" the American replied, now speaking in English as he slammed the rock against the Sergeant's head again. Akinfeev didn't move for quite a few seconds, but to make sure he was dead, Jack picked up the Sergeant's gun and fired a shot into his chest. He could just about hear running behind him, so he hurriedly pulled the balaclava out of his trousers and pulled it over his head. He slowly turned around to face several shocked soldiers. "Is that Sergeant Akinfeev?" one of them asked. Jack slowly nodded. "Your "Sergeant" was not who you thought he was – I had to kill him. Transpires he was a Ukraine rebel and he was planning to lead us into a rebel trap..." he quickly lied. The soldiers exchanged looks of utter surprise. "I am now taking command of this Platoon. We are leaving now" he added, walking back to the convoy. The soldiers exchanged looks but quickly followed.

19:29:01PM

–

19:32:17PM

 **Canadian Airspace**

Onboard Air Force One, President Heller had moved to the plane's conference room and alongside McKaye, was in video conference with five high-ranking military officers at the Pentagon. "Have we been able to establish who is behind the hijacking yet, General?" Heller asked. "Negative, sir. At the minute, all we have to go on is the phone call made to you – our analysts are trying to determine who it was that you spoke with" the un-named General replied. Heller nodded and turned to another high-ranking official on the video screen. "Colonel Kingsley?" he asked. "Well, I've sent messages to major Air Traffic Control hubs across Europe to find out which flight and where it is at present moment.." the Colonel responded before being stopped and handed a piece of paper by an aide. He examined it closely. "Colonel?" Heller asked. "Gentleman, some good news – we've found the flight. As you said, it's United Airlines Flight 681, which London Heathrow has confirmed as an Airbus A380; reported to be carrying 401 passengers and 19 crew members. According to flight radars in both Scotland and Iceland, it cleared British airspace a few minutes before 6pm UK time. Since then, no radio contact on either end.." Kingsley confirmed.

Heller sat back in his chair – at least they knew something. "When is Flight 681 due to land to DC?" he asked. "Approximately 8pm, Washington DC time, sir" another official responded. Heller nodded. "Well, gentlemen... I'm open to suggestions on what to do. I know this country has a policy of not negotiating with terrorists, but this person I spoke to.. he told me to forget about that.." he admitted. Colonel Kingsley rose an eyebrow. "Sir, regardless of who told you what, we shouldn't give in to this person.." he exclaimed. "Even if it's at the cost of over 400 innocent people, Colonel?" McKaye asked – he had been admittedly surprised when the President requested he sit in on the video conference. "400 people vs countless hundreds of millions on the ground, McKaye – I know what's more important! And frankly, why on earth are you sitting in on a matter that doesn't concern the United Kingdom?" the Colonel retorted. Heller rose his hand to hush everyone. "Gentlemen, please.. Colonel, Agent McKaye is here as owing to circumstances prior to my departure from London, he is the second highest-ranking person on this plane next to me!" he explained and Kingsley, albeit begrudgingly, backed down.

"Sir!" a voice called and the same aide from previous reappeared on-screen, now holding another note which he handed to the un-named General. Putting on his reading glasses, he examined it. "What is it, Boakes?" Heller asked. "We have a confirmation on who you spoke to, sir... don't ask me how... but it's Jurgen Hermann!" Boakes replied grimly. The faces of those in the Pentagon darkened whilst Heller sat emotionless, his condition making him unable to remember the name. "I'm sorry.. my memory is dreadful at the minute. Who is Jurgen Hermann?" he asked. Another officer's face turned incredulous. "Is that an actual question, sir? Hermann was one of the financiers of that terrorist attack by Marwan! With the greatest respect, Mr President, you of all people should know, Marwan was effectively the one who authorised your kidnapping!" he yelled. Heller's eyes rose in shock as the memories came flooding back of his kidnapping. Instantly, the officer realized he went too far. "I... I'm sorry, sir. I don't know what came over me.." he apologized. McKaye spoke up next. "I think you might have to tell us everything again, for the sake of the President" he said. The officer nodded. "Yes.. basically, whilst we didn't find out until it was nearly too late, Hermann had played a part in the terrorist attack by Habib Marwan. When we found out, he tried to escape and though he was caught, he killed 10 people in the process.." he explained.

"Ok.. so what happened to him?" McKaye asked further. "In alliance with the German courts, Hermann was extradited back to Germany and sentenced to 25 years in prison – a few months ago, he was reported to have been killed in a prison riot though obviously it seems that was not the case.." Boakes continued. Heller nodded. "Right.. going back to a few minutes ago, how should we approach this?" he asked. Kingsley spoke up. "Frankly, sir, we don't know if Hermann actually does hostages and even if he does, we don't know if he's bluffing or not – for all we know, he could be saying he's hijacked the flight but he actually hasn't – I say we hold back. Do nothing. If he does rings, remind him of our policy against terrorists and see what happens.." the Colonel suggested. McKaye gave an incredulous look. "But what if he does have hostages? We'd been signing the death sentence of an innocent passenger..." he reasoned. "As we said, Agent McKaye, we do not know if he has hostages or not. It's a risk we have to take.." Boakes pointed out. Heller's face suggested he was conflicted. "I'm trusting you on this, gentlemen.. if it turns out he does have hostages.." he finally said, but his tone of voice made it sound like a warning. "Mr President, we understand. But at the minute, we don't know if he's being serious or not.." another officer maintained. Heller rose to stand. "Thank you, gentlemen. When Hermann rings back, we'll key you in.." he said and those on-screen nodded. As the screen went blank, McKaye walked up to him. "You're not really going to just let Hermann possibly kill someone, are you, sir?" he asked, concerned.

Heller sighed. "I don't want to, Andrew, it's just... as morally wrong as it is, we don't know if there are actually hostages on that plane. It's a risk that we have to take.." he pointed out. McKaye still looked unhappy but seemed to agree with the President's argument.

–

19:37:45PM

 **Norwegian Sea**

Ever since they'd overheard Hermann's admission that there was something potentially dangerous hidden within the plane, the mood in the below-deck cabin could have gotten sour and cold – but instead, Chloe was working away on something. "Ok, here we go..." she said as the laptop pulled up schematics of what appeared to be an A380. Belcheck sat down on the bed next to her. "So what's the best route to the cargo area?" he asked. "At the minute, it seems like through the wheel wells.." Chloe replied. Kurt quickly cut in. "Wait, you're not actually suggesting we get out of here? We're thousands of feet above the ocean!" he exclaimed, again unsure of what exactly was being proposed. "As much as we want to, Kurt, that's not what we're planning – Hermann said there was something on this plane and we have to find it.." Chloe reasoned. Kurt thought about what she had said and nodded. "But how can you be sure it's underneath the cabins? What if it's actually up there?" Gabrielle asked, referencing the passenger cabin. "Whilst it may be up there.." Belcheck said. "...we can't be for certain unless we check down here".

"But we do have one problem.." Chloe said suddenly. Everyone looked at her with concern. "There doesn't seem to be any way to access the wheel wells from down here – the only access is through the passenger cabin is through the restaurant" she explained, turning the laptop so everyone could see. The restaurant was on the same level as the cabins they were in, but at the front of the plane. "We'd have to go through the passenger cabin and hope no-one will spot us – easier said than done" Chloe revealed. Belcheck, though, didn't seem convinced. "You're sure there's no way of accessing the wheel wells from here?" he asked. Chloe reluctantly nodded. "Unless there's somewhere hidden in the elevator shaft.." she said. At that, the Serb got up and left the smaller cabin, walking towards the elevator shaft. "Belcheck?" Chloe called and quickly got up, taking the laptop with her as she walked out of the cabin. Belcheck slowly jumped into the shaft and spotted what he had hoped to find – a wall panel that looked like it was slightly sticking out. "I need a crowbar or something.." he said as quietly as possible, knowing that his voice could echo all the way up to the top deck.

Thankfully, Chloe understood what he meant and walked back to the young couple. "He needs something to open a wall panel.." she said, handing back the laptop to Kurt. "Don't go off anything I've been on!" she added loudly without looking back. In the passenger cabin, Avram and another hijacker were outside the elevator trying to open the doors. Like before and even with a crowbar wedged in, the doors wouldn't budge an inch. "God damn it!" Avram swore and picked up his radio. "It's no good, sir – these doors are jammed tight" he told Hermann on the other end. " _I see..._ you studied the A380, Avram – is there no other way down to the below-deck cabins?" the German replied. "There is, sir, but I wouldn't recommend it – we'd have to go through the wheel wells and there isn't enough space" the Romanian insisted. There were a few seconds of dead air. " _In that case, I would just leave it. I think we have to accept we may have lost Golea and move on.._ " Hermann finally said. Avram bit his lip – he didn't particularly wish to abandon his compatriot, but the German was right. "Very well, sir.." he relented. " _In the meantime, do me a favour and get me a list of who is on this plane – I want to see if there's anyone important on this plane!"_ came the reply from over the radio.

"Very good, sir..." Avram said and headed away from the elevator. In the cockpit, Hermann checked his watch. 19:42, about 15 minutes before the next phone call to the President.

–

19:44:10PM

 **Ukraine**

The last 14 or so minutes had gone by really smoothly for Jack – whilst the platoon had doubts about the death of Akinfeev, they didn't mention them in front of the "Officer" for fears of being seen as insubordinate. In the far distance, Jack could see what looked the never-ending countryside come to an end. "What's after here, son?" he asked the driver. "Not much, sir. There's a small abandoned town about 25 minutes drive from here and after that, more countryside. But we're going to have to be really careful going through the town – rumour has it, a Ukraine rebel base is positioned there" the driver replied, with noticeable concern in his voice as he finished speaking. Damn, thought Jack – a possible Ukraine rebel base was the last thing he needed. He had about 25 minutes to get rid of the rest of the platoon as whilst being on his own in a Ukraine-occupied area was still dangerous, it was a hell of a lot better than being with the platoon.

Meanwhile, about 15 minutes back down the countryside, a Kamaz Typhoon truck was driving along the same road. In the cab were two Russian officers, who were very perturbed – they had been trying to find Russian Platoon #50 for the past hour and had very nearly been killed by a booby trap possibly intended for Ukraine rebels. In fact, they were quite lucky their Typhoon truck was still intact after that, but they had also lost had their on-board radio damaged and only had tyre-tracks left on the road to guide them. On the side of the road lay the still body of Sergeant Akinfeev.. or at least, it was thought to be still. As the truck came closer and closer, Akinfeev slowly opened his eyes – he couldn't believe he was still alive after being on the side of the road for at least 10 minutes. He heard the roar of the truck and grit his teeth, knowing what he had to do. With heavy breathing, he clenched his fists together and slowly but surely started to crawl to the side of the road. The truck was getting closer and Akinfeev, despite the pain, grit his teeth even harder as he had little time to stop. Finally, with one heavy push, he forced himself onto the road and in the path of the truck. "WAIT, STOP!" one yelled quickly and the officer slammed on the brakes. The truck slid along the road before finally coming to a stop just inches from Akinfeev. One of the officers climbed out of the truck and knelt down. "It's a Platoon Sergeant! Get the first aid kit!" he yelled back to his colleague and put his hands under Akinfeev's head. "What happened...?" he asked the Sergeant.

Akinfeev took several slow and deep breathes. "J...Ja...Jac... Jack Bauer..." he finally said. The officer paused in shock. "Jack Bauer is in the Ukraine.. he's infiltrated my platoon; only about 15 minutes away, going..." he added, moving his head in the direction that the platoon had gone. "Gromov! I know the radio's damaged, but get it working!" the officer yelled. The platoon were potentially driving with a known killer in their midst.

19:47:51PM

–

19:51:10PM

 **Ukraine**

Through a stroke of sheer luck, Officer Gromov had just managed to get the radio working whilst his colleague attended to Akinfeev. But in spite of the officer's attempts, Akinfeev was losing the will to fight. "Come on, Sergeant, stay with me.." the officer pushed. But the Sergeant instead smiled and shook his head. "4703 kHz, sir.." he said before finally closing his eyes and falling still again. After a few seconds, the officer realized he could do no more and he started to put everything back in the first aid kit, curious about the Sergeant's last few words. And realization struck – 4703 kHz was a radio frequency! He picked up the Sergeant with his arms and placed him in the back of the Typhoon truck before moving back to the cab. Even before he had sat down, he was speaking to Gromov. "Switch the frequency to 4703 kHz! That's the frequency Akinfeev's platoon was on!" he instructed his colleague. Realizing what the other officer meant, Gromov moved into action.

Up ahead of them, the platoon was still driving along. Whilst the front vehicle's driver couldn't see, Jack was showing clear signs of nerves. Suddenly, the radio buzzed into action. " _Russian Platoon #50, this is Typhoon Truck Alpha-9! COME IN, OVER!_ " a loud distorted voice replied. The driver picked up the radio. "This is Platoon #50, Alpha-9. What's the problem, over?" he asked. " _Do you have an Officer Slutsky within your platoon?_ " the reply came almost instantly, not even allowing the driver to finish saying "over". "Yes, sir, we do. Currently en-route to the city of Kiev as we speak..." the driver started to explain before again being interrupted. Of course, the officer speaking through the radio suspected that Jack was in the same vehicle as the driver, so he decided to try something different. " _Alpha Beta Omega Delta.._ " the voice said – to Jack, that meant nothing at all but to the officer, "Alpha Beta Omega" was Russian code for "Infiltrator in the ranks. Highly dangerous. Eliminate with extreme prejudice". Delta was codeword for " Jack Bauer". The driver stayed emotionless as so not to arouse suspicion. "Very good, sir.. I'll inform the platoon, out" he said, before putting the radio back. Things were slowly making sense – Slutsky killing Sergeant Akinfeev, having a balaclava on his head.. what if Bauer WAS Slutsky?

He quickly moved to pick up the radio again, but then felt a hand grab his arm and he turned his head to see a fist flying into it. Jack instantly found himself wrestling with the driver whilst trying to keep on the road – then as if by luck, he managed to unfasten the driver's seatbelt and kicked him straight onto the driver's door. With one big kick, he slammed the driver back against the door which opened and set him flying onto the road. As Jack took the wheel, he realized this was his chance to get rid of the platoon or at least some of it – pulling off the balaclava, he slammed on the brakes and moved the steering wheel to the left as the vehicle came to a halt in the middle of the road. Turning himself around, he started to move his arm around the back of the truck as the rest of the platoon started to catch up – feeling something round, he pulled out a grenade and instantly pulled off the pin, throwing it in the direction of the platoon and under another off-road vehicle. A large explosion ripped through the vehicle and resulted in the soldier truck falling on-road onto a slight embankment. "IT'S JACK BAUER!" Jack heard the driver yell and instantly grabbed a machine gun from the back of the vehicle, emptying its payload at the stunned soldiers before turning back around and away. As the shock of the attack wore off, the remaining off-road vehicles and soldier truck raced after Jack.

–

 **Northern Sea**

Onboard the Yuri Dolgorskiy, the control panel under the control of Aralica suddenly went haywire. Examining a printing message, his eyes rose and he spoke into his headset. "GENERAL! You are not going to believe this! Jack Bauer has been located – he IS within the Ukraine, towards the North West of Kiev!" he yelled quickly. A deck below him, Benediktov instantly moved for his nearby radio. "Are you absolutely sure, Aralica?" he asked. " _YES, SIR! Eastern Cell will try and contain him!_ " the Croatian replied just as fast as the first message. "Very good! Keep me informed!" the General replied and just as soon as he had replaced the radio, Krylelko ran up to him. "General Benediktov!" she called and the Russian turned to face the Ukrainian woman. "Radar has picked up a US Air Force military plane, thousands of miles ahead of us and overflying the North Atlantic Ocean – don't ask me why it's doing that, but this plane has the CHIEF OF STAFF to President Heller onboard!" she explained. Benediktov's eyes rose in shock and then delight. "So... another chance to hit the President at his lowest has come about.. When will it be in targeting range?" he asked. "Within the next 30 to 40 minutes, sir!" came the reply. Benediktov sighed and nodded. "I will inform everyone upstairs.. keep monitoring radar!" he ordered. Krylenko nodded and headed back to her post. "By the time Heller learns the truth, we'll have hit him at more than just his lowest.." the General said to himself

–

19:56:01PM

 **Norwegian Sea**

Within the elevator shaft of Flight 681, Belcheck finally forced open the wall panel with a large and slim-looking pipe. Pulling it fully off, he looked through the hole and saw what he had fully expected – the belly of the plane where all the wiring and electronics and all that were. Somewhere further inside would be the wheel wells and possibly further on, a way to the cargo bay. "We're in" Belcheck said to Kurt, who was kneeling in front of the open doors – he in turn turned his head around, so he could see both Chloe and Gabrielle, who were standing in the doorway. "We're a-go!" he said. Chloe was about to say something when she heard talking coming from the laptop. " _Time to phone your President, gentlemen..._ " Hermann could be heard saying. "Hold everything!" she said quickly as she sat down with the laptop in her lap. Kurt and Gabrielle stood around her whilst Belcheck moved to the open gap between the elevator doors.

In the cockpit, Hermann had the phone again next to his ear as the dial tone was heard over and over. Onboard Air Force One, meanwhile, the phone in the President's office started to ring. Heller moved to pick it up and put it on speaker-phone as a worried McKaye walked in. "Yes?" Heller asked as he noticed the MI-5 agent walking in. "Mr President.." Hermann said, opening the door so that everyone could see into the cockpit. " _I know who you are now..._ Mr. Hermann" Heller said, grim-faced. He could hear Hermann snigger. " _It doesn't really matter if you know who I am or not, Mr President.._ all that matters is, have you considered any more about my demands?" the German enquired. Heller looked up at McKaye and bit his lip. "I have... and I'm going to repeat what I said when you first rang – this country does not negotiate with terrorists. And frankly, how do I even know you have hostages?" he finally said, his voice firm. McKaye gave a look of absolute worry. "I see..." Hermann said. "Very well, then... I shall prove I have hostages. Remain on the line please.." he added, turning to face one of his henchmen. With a flick of his gun, he gave silent instructions to the henchman who nodded.

Outside the below-deck cabin, Chloe looked up from her laptop, worried before looking at Kurt and Gabrielle and then Belcheck. "What's he up to?" she whispered. Back on Air Force One, McKaye sat down. He had a really bad feeling about this. "Is the Pentagon patched in?" Heller asked quietly, covering the speaker so that Hermann couldn't hear them. "Yes.. they've heard everything you've said.." McKaye nodded. After what felt like forever, Hermann finally spoke again. " _Can you still hear me, Mr. President?_ " he asked. "Yes.." Heller replied. "You said you wanted proof I have hostages... here is your proof.." the German responded and walked to the cockpit doorway where a young flight attendant was kneeling, terrified. Hermann came down to her level. "Tell the President your name, sweetheart.." he said before putting the phone next to the right ear of the attendant. "I... I'm Charlotte Morillion..." she said, trying her best not to break into tears. "And... _what's your job, Charlotte?_ " Hermann replied, almost in a taunting voice. " _I'm... a flight attendant for United Airlines. Just started_ " Charlotte replied, her voice now shaking. "Ok... and one last thing – how old are you?" the German asked. There were quite a few seconds of silence and several slow breathes which could be heard below-deck, throughout the plane and on Air Force One. " _I'm... 22._ " the young flight attendant finally said. Hermann smiled. "Thank you, Charlotte" he said.

Speaking into the phone, he spoke. "So there you go, Mr President – I do have hostages. And since you didn't believe me at first, I'm afraid there's a price to pay...". Turning straight around, he positioned his gun at Charlotte and fired. The sound of the shot was heard throughout the plane and terrified passengers instantly started screaming – stunned by the gun firing, Chloe scrambled to her feet in an instance whilst the laptop landed on its side. Looking up, she exchanged stunned looks with Kurt, Gabrielle and Belcheck. On Air Force One, McKaye put his head in his hands whilst Heller sat back in shock, realizing that Hermann had just shot dead the flight attendant. " _Now you know I have hostages, Mr. President.._ and when I ring again, I expect progress to have been made. Otherwise, it'll be two more people and not just the one who will pay the price for your decisions.." the German made it bluntly clear before hanging up. As the dial tone droned on, Heller slowly moved forward and put the phone back on its hook. "Get me the Pentagon again.." he told McKaye with a quiet voice. The MI-5 agent looked up and albeit reluctantly, he got up and left the office.

Now it was Heller's turn to put his head in his hands – he took off his glasses and put them down on the desk. He felt physically sick and only now did he realize the hijacking was very much real.

20:00:00PM


	5. 5: 8pm - 9pm (EST)

**DISCLAIMER: See Chapter 1**

Any feedback is still appreciated - as is any constructive criticism. If you feel I'm missing something or even being a bit OOC with characters at times, let me know.

* * *

5: 8pm – 9pm (EST):

 **The following takes place between 8pm and 9pm, European Standard Time:**

–

20:00:01PM

 **Norwegian Sea**

Two gun-men picked up the dead flight attendant's body and looked towards Hermann for instructions on where to depose of it. "Just put it in one of the toilets for now; cover it with a blanket when you're done!" he ordered after some thought – being over 35000 ft above the Norwegian Sea, there weren't many options on where it could go and just throwing it off the flight was out of the question as opening any doors or hatches would de-pressurize the plane. One of the gun-men nodded as the body was taken away. Closing the cockpit door, the German sat back down next to Captain Black and put his hands close to his mouth, thinking. Black and flight engineer Lightspeed looked at each other for a few seconds before Lightspeed spoke up. "Was that really necessary?" he asked rather coldly. Hermann looked up and turned his head around. "Maybe.. maybe not.. but at least now the President knows I mean business" he said simply. The flight engineer sighed rather angrily. "You killed an innocent girl... someone who had her whole life ahead of her and you kill her in cold blood!" he replied forcefully.

Hermann turned his head around again and rose an eyebrow. "Really? That's the stance you're taking? May I point out to you that you Americans have killed many young people across the Middle East and in secret covert operations in Europe? Why is it that when you do it, it's justified but when it happens to you, it's cold-blooded murder?" he asked, pushing harder and harder for an answer with each question. Lightspeed simply glared at him, keeping silent. The German smirked and turned back around. "It's getting a bit dark in here, any chance of some light?" he asked. Lightspeed, without looking at his console, pressed some buttons and a light above the pilots came on. There was a knock on the door. "Sir?" came a voice. "Open the door, will you?" Hermann asked Lightspeed without turning around – the flight engineer, with an unimpressed sigh, unlocked the door. Standing there was a young long-haired man holding an iPad – Hermann looked around. "Sir, Avram has gone through the passenger list as requested; he found something that probably isn't important at first but after reading your file.." the young man spoke in Albanian, handing the German the iPad. "Avram looked through my file?" he replied in the same language, raising an eyebrow. The Albanian nodded. "Wait there, Asllani.." Hermann requested before starting to scroll through the passenger list.

"Go down to surnames beginning with O, sir.." Asllani said, now speaking English. Following the young Albanian's instructions, Hermann scrolled close to the bottom of the list... and stopped. His eyes rose in surprise as he double-clicked on the iPad screen and his mouth dropped very slightly. "Well, this is... most unexpected. Now I understand why below-deck has been cut off.." he said to himself. He got up and handed Asllani the iPad. "Thank you for the information. Could you ask Avram to come down to the cockpit when he has a moment please?" he asked the Albanian. Asllani nodded and turned on his heel to head back upstairs – as he heard the cockpit door close behind him, he quickly took a look at the iPad to see why the German was so surprised. As he examined the screen, he rose an eyebrow. "Why would he be surprised at this?" he asked himself. On the iPad screen was the name, passport details and passport photo of Chloe O'Brian – to him, it meant nothing but little did he know that Hermann and O'Brian had history.

Down below-deck, meanwhile, Belcheck was starting to crawl into the space in the wall he had made. Chloe was standing in the space between the metal doors "Be careful in there – we've no headsets or portable communication so I'll have no way of knowing if you run into trouble.." she explained. As soon as the Serb was through the space, he turned so that he was looking back at Chloe. "Right.. I'll try and be as quick as possible – if I'm not back within 40 minutes, cover this up" he insisted, indicating the gap in the wall. Chloe nodded. "Good luck.." she smiled. Belcheck gave a curt nod and disappeared into the belly of the plane. "Chloe!". The former analyst turned around to see Kurt and Gabrielle sitting around the laptop, worried. "Anything said in the cockpit?" she asked. Gabrielle nodded. "At first, it wasn't much. Most of what was said was in another language, but... then there was mention of someone under a list of surnames beginning with O.." Kurt said. Chloe didn't seem to react at first, but then as she took what had been said, her blood turned cold. It was very likely Hermann had found out that she was on the flight.

–

20:05:47PM

 **Canadian Airspace**

"Well, I hope you're happy with your decision, General!" McKaye was not holding back against General Boakes, clearly blaming him for the death of the flight attendant at Hermann's hands. Air Force One was now less than two hours from landing back in DC and both Heller and McKaye were back in a video conference with the same Pentagon personnel they had been speaking with around half an hour previously. "I appreciate the decision I made turned out to be wrong in the end, but think about it, we now know that Hermann does have hostages and that he is willing to kill them.." Boakes insisted but McKaye was clearly unimpressed with his answer. "I'm sorry, but you're acting like as if the death of that flight attendant was somehow okay! How can you sit there and try and downgrade the murder of an American citizen?!" he pointed out – he wasn't American but the way he was acting, he might as well have been.

"What do you want us to do, McKaye?" Colonel Kingsley spoke. "We can't go back and change it – as much as it is regrettable that it took place, it's still happened. We now have to think about what we should do to stop any more deaths happening" he continued. At that, McKaye kept quiet – as angry as he was, Kingsley was right. They had to move forward. "What now, Mr President?" Boakes asked. Heller pondered for a moment. "Well, you all know our policy on negotiating with terrorists but frankly, give them what they want!" he finally said. All the men on the video screen exchanged looks of shock whilst even McKaye rose an eyebrow. "I know what you're thinking, I should be giving it more thought and not giving in so easily.. but frankly, considering what I've been through over the past 48 hours, I don't want there to be any more bloodshed – too many good people have died because of me..." he started. "We understand that, sir, but with the greatest respect, I'm worried you may be rushing into things too soon. Give it some further thought on whether you want to do anything.." Kingsley suggested. McKaye crocked a look. "And in the meantime, Colonel? In case you may have forgotten, we have a planeload of innocent passengers some few hours behind us and several hijackers who will kill them all unless their demands are followed!"

"I have not forgotten, McKaye, which is why I have a proposal.. we give the hijackers false information.." the Colonel replied, giving a smile for the first time in both video conferences. "Go on, Colonel.." Heller said, intrigued. "We tell Hermann we're making progress with his demands when in fact, we're not. And I have a feeling he may be monitoring communications between countries so we spread the lie to our forces in Europe – risky, yes, but if it convinces Hermann.." Kingsley continued, confident in his idea. McKaye nodded. "I like the sound of that.." he said. "Agreed, Colonel, but I do have one question.." Heller added. Kingsley rose an eyebrow as so to indicate the President could ask away. "Who's this Hermann?" he asked. Everyone on the screen frowned, but then the penny dropped. This was the president's dementia speaking. "Hermann's the lead hijacker, sir. Of the United Airlines flight.." Boakes said slowly. A few seconds went by, but Heller realized. "Of... of course, I'm sorry!" he said, before McKaye took over. "Get us the list of names, General. We'll wait for contact from Hermann.." he said. Boakes nodded and the screen went black. Heller gave a look of disbelief and dismay at McKaye, shocked he couldn't remember something that had spoken about just seconds before.

In the Pentagon, meanwhile, Boakes, Kingsley and the other officials looked at each other. "He couldn't remember Hermann's name – we were speaking about him just minutes before and the President couldn't remember it. It's taking over.." Boakes said quietly and with a worried look. "Are you suggesting we should invoke the 25th Amendment, General?" Kingsley asked. Another man gave an incredulous look. "We surely can't? In case you've forgotten, the Vice-President is DEAD and the Secretary of State, who should be next in line, is on official business in South Korea!" he shouted in reply. "I respect that, Colonel Hackett, but surely that conference meeting has shown that the President is losing it! We may not have anyone, but that doesn't mean we can't do anything!" Kingsley said. "Gentlemen, please!" Boakes intervened. The room stayed quiet. "We don't know for a fact if the President's condition has worsened or not – my mother suffered from dementia for a good 4 years and she forgot things said just minutes before, but that didn't mean she was losing it! I say we do nothing – keep faith in the President and only take action if it is absolutely necessary.." he ordered. The men around him weren't too happy but they nodded in agreement. Boakes sighed, hoping the President could keep going on for just a bit longer.

–

20:09:01PM

 **Ukraine**

Racing down the countryside road at the highest speed the Russian jeep could give him, Jack looked in the rear-view mirror – it had taken him a good 15 or so minutes but it seemed like as if he'd finally shaken off the remaining members of the Russian platoon that had chased after him. The first few 5 minutes of the pursuit had seen the jeep take quite a bit of damage, including losing all of the windows to gun-fire, but it was still pretty much intact. But none of that automatically meant that he could slow down or relax just yet; according to one of the drivers of the platoon, there was an abandoned town literally a couple of minutes ahead of him that was apparently home to a Russian military base. He could sure-as-hell bet that if there was a military base within the town, the platoon behind him would have alerted them to his presence – he would have to abandon the jeep and find some other way out of the town.

At last, he drove past a large sign that indicated he had entered the town – and within seconds, he turned left into the woodland. Driving over bits of tree bark and grass, he finally stopped the car and turned off the engine. Jack instantly moved to get out of the jeep, but then remembered he should be ready and waiting for any Russians in the town – keeping a very close eye out, he pulled two guns and a small duffel bag of grenades from the back of the jeep and moved off, closing the door. He knew he had to be quick in getting out of the town, as he moved back towards the road – looking both ways and staying out of the way of the floodlights he had only just noticed, he ran across the road and behind a small building. Keeping an eye on anything coming his way, he quickly moved towards what appeared to be a burnt-out van and took cover behind it. And that was when he spotted it. "Damn.." he realized he didn't have binoculars on him so he looked as far ahead as he could. He thought he might have been seeing things but no.. he couldn't definitely see what appeared to be a military base not that far from him. Jack shook his head in frustration – that meant he would have to be even stealthier in getting out of the town.

Suddenly, his thoughts were drowned out by a loud whirring sound – he looked up and saw a series of lights moving around rapidly. Peeking out from the back of the van, he saw a helicopter hover above the town before moving towards the base. Jack stopped – he had thought of what was probably the safest and quickest plan he had had since crash-landing in the Ukraine. Whilst it was risky, it was a hell of a lot quicker than hoping to get the town without being spotted – he was going to sneak into the base and steal a helicopter, then using the grenades to blow up any other helicopters on base. It was so crazy it might just work. As the helicopter hovered above the base and turned to land, Jack made a break for it. Stopping every time he saw a burnt-out vehicle on the side of the road, he got closer and closer to the side of the base and as he finally came into line with the barbed wire surrounding the base, he started to look for an opening. Noticing the floodlights starting to move into the area he was in, he quickly ran across the road to the wired fence, being careful not to be spotted on both sides. With the speed of a stealth fighter, he ran along the side of the fence and quickly dived to the ground as a truck came into view – keeping his head down but looking straight, he saw the truck go left and then left again into the base.

"Well there's the way in.." Jack said to himself and he looked back ahead, seeing slight headlights in the distance. Quickly getting back up, he ran alongside the barbed wire fence and dodged the floodlights as he came to another side of the road – hiding at the side of a car that had been turned over, he waited as the truck came into view and came past. Taking advantage, Jack jumped onto the side of the truck and held on; at least he hadn't been spotted and thanks to the design of the truck, he couldn't be seen if the driver looked out of the door-mirror. The truck turned left and after a few seconds, started up again, driving into the base. Looking around, he jumped off and rolled onto the ground, behind large wooden boxes. He was in.

20:14:21PM

–

20:19:36PM

 **Ukraine**

In the minutes following his infiltration of the Russian army base, Jack had made his way into an office-space. He quickly moved his eyes around and spied what appeared to be an iMac computer. "Bingo.." he whispered – at least now he could figure out where the hell he was and how far away Kiev was. Quietly closing the door, he walked to the computer and sat down in the chair; now of course, he knew full well that the language the computer would be in would be Russian and whilst his spoken Russian was good, his written left a lot to be desired. Looking at the keyboard, he was partly relieved that it was mainly in English with Russian lettering at the very bottom of each pad. He typed "Google" into the search engine and was instantly met with Russian lettering. Frowning, he then added the word "English" to what he had searched for and a notification came up, offering an English translation. "Yes.." Jack whispered as he clicked up and an English translation of the Russian options appeared on screen. Clicking on Google Maps, it bought up a large map of the Ukraine. He clicked on "Your Location" and added Kiev into the search-bar.

As it loaded, he heard noises coming from outside and he quickly moved for the gun with the silencer, before tucking down under the text. But after a couple of seconds, the noises fell quiet. Slowly getting back into the chair, Jack looked up at the map search. He gave a slight smile as it showed that Kiev was only 3 hours by driving, so if he could get a helicopter ride, that would be cut to about 30 minutes or so. But of course, Kiev was in the middle of the country so getting out of the Ukraine as a whole was easier said than done. Listening into any noises coming close to the office, he went onto Google Flights and searched up airports in Kiev – one, Kyiv International Airport, stood out. "Come on..." he said to himself as he searched up the list of flights leaving the city within the next 4 hours. Then one sprung out and Jack gave another slight smile – Ukraine International Airlines Flight 78, an Embraer E195 jet, leaving Kiev at 21:55 on a short passenger hop to Warsaw, landing time estimated at just gone 11pm. Warsaw, Poland! Over the border and back towards Central Europe and perhaps most importantly.. out of the Ukraine! That settles it, Jack thought. Whilst he had no idea whether he could successfully pull it off or not, he was going to steal a helicopter from the military base, fly it to Kiev and hitch a ride on Flight 78 out of the country.

Quickly picking up his other gun and the duffel bag of grenades, he quietly minimized the window and slowly left the office – the moment he was outside, he closed the door and ducked down to avoid being spotted. As soon as he felt the coast was clear, he walked to the right of the office and crept his head around. Straight ahead of him, he could see several helicopters altogether in one corner. Carefully walking across the base and past the buildings, he finally made it to the helicopters and found what he felt was the right one – a Russian Kazan Ansat-U variant, capable of speeds up to 171mph. This could get him to Kiev in no time but of course, he couldn't just take it without the Russians on base spotting him. He had to create a diversion and he knew what to do. Opening up the hatch to the helicopter, he pulled out a grenade from the duffel bag and targeted the office buildings. Carefully aiming, he pulled the pin from the grenade and threw.

Retreating back into the helicopter, Jack watched the grenade fly towards the office-space he had walked out of just a couple of minutes before-hand.. and hit the wall. Ducking down, he heard the grenade rip through the office-space and looked up just in time to see a large fireball in the place of the small buildings. With a grim expression, he closed up the hatch and started up the helicopter, the duffel bag next to him in case he ran into problems. As the helicopter rotor blades began to spin up to speed, he was thankful that the fire had kept the attention off of him – outside, several soldiers were surrounding the fire and shouting towards others coming towards the flames as a fireball rose up, unaware of the helicopter slowly rising above them. Little did anyone know, however, that within one of the buildings were two gas cylinders that had been placed them for storage and the explosion had sent one of them flying onto an angle where it was positioned at a floodlight tower and of course, fire and gas did not mix well. The canister exploded and flew into the air, straight at the floodlight tower and exploded again, destroying the metal supports. As the top of the tower started to fall, the floodlight shone on the helicopter and the shocked soldiers looked up. Instantly realizing, Jack grabbed the controls and pulled up – he was quite a ways up when a bullet smacked against the windscreen and embedded itself in where it had stopped.

"Damn it!" he whispered as the soldiers continued firing on the helicopter, unaware of just who was piloting. Jack looked to his right and froze – somehow, the Russian platoon were down below, entering the town. He really did not want to use up all of the grenades, but he had no choice. Pulling one of the duffel bag, he opened the left-hand helicopter screen hatch and threw as far as he could within being shot – luckily, he got a rather lucky shot as the grenade disappeared among the other helicopters and exploded, ripping through them. The soldiers were caught off-guard by this and the explosion shock-waves forced them off their feet. Shifting the helicopter more to the right so he was almost above the platoon, who started firing on him. As even more bullets tried to penetrate the hull of the helicopter, Jack pulled another grenade from the duffel bag and held it with his teeth before opening the mirror hatch on the other side of the chopper and kicking the bag out. It fell to just in front of the platoon and Jack, aiming carefully, threw the grenade out of the helicopter and instantly moved left, away from both the platoon and the base. A large explosion ripped through the area of the town the platoon was in and Jack could feel the after-effects of it as he wrestled for control of the Ansat. Finally gaining control, he noticed what appeared to be a flight path planner and typed in Kiev. Little did he know, however, that outside, a surviving soldier from one of the remaining floodlight towers had gotten to his feet and saw the helicopter fly by – through the screen mirrors, he somehow managed to spot Jack and his jaw dropped in realization.

The flight path planner finally bought up a route to Kiev Internation Airport and through it automatically speaking, Jack learnt that it was around 40 minutes away by helicopter. "Perfect.." he said to himself as he pushed the controls forward to pick up more speed.

–

20:24:03PM

 **Norwegian Sea**

Belcheck had been crawling through the belly of Flight 681 for a good 20 minutes – in that time, he had made his way to the cargo area and found nothing out of the ordinary. Now he was on his way back, a bit concerned that he couldn't find the potential "surprise" Hermann had been talking about anywhere in the belly of the plane; if it wasn't down here, it would be possibly among the passengers and neither he or Chloe would have any hope of finding it. Now he was on his way back and he decided to recheck the landing gear, as he hadn't gotten a good enough look the first time. After a few bit of crawling, he finally reached the area where the landing gear was located but as he got up, he accidentally knocked into a pipe with a loud smack – the sound was loud enough that a gun-man walking around a section of economy class heard it. Suspicious, he signalled another gun-man, Jelavic the Croatian that had been seated next to Hermann, over. "I heard something below. I'm gonna check it out – make sure this lot don't do anything" the first gun-man, with a Ukraine accent, said. Jelavic nodded and instantly pulled out his pager whilst the Ukrainian knelt down, starting to pull up a large floor panel.

Realizing what was happening, Belcheck quickly moved out of eyesight and behind the landing gear. The panel finally opened up and the Ukrainian stuck his head down. Wishing he had a gun on him, Belcheck kept deathly still until he saw something in the corner of his eye – sure he had heard something, the Ukrainian frowned. "May have been pipes.." he muttered as he bought his head back up and replaced the floor panel. But for Belcheck, he had found something rather peculiar – almost hidden out of sight at the very bottom of the gear mechanism were 10 long metal tubes with lids on the ends. Pulling the lid off one, he found a metal handle and pulled it out slowly... revealing 5 chains of medium-sized green baubles. "These seem... familiar.." he started slowly but then he realized – they were familiar. "No.." he said, almost recoiling at what he was holding and then slowly putting the chains of baubles back within the tube before rapidly putting the lid back on. He checked to see if the tube he had opened had a label and it did – and so did the other 9 tubes. All of them read "O-ethyl-S". "Fu*k..." he whispered and he checked to see how far he was from the elevator shaft – it was about a minute or two away by crawling but he had no intention of doing that. Carefully removing himself from the landing gear, he ran as quietly as possible towards the open wall panel.

Back in the cockpit, Hermann was waiting patiently in the first officer's seat until finally, there was a knock on the door. "Enter.." the German said and Avram opened the door, walking in. Hermann turned around. "Nice of us to come down here, Avram – I was about to call a search party.." he said, his unimpressed voice drenched in sarcasm. "Sorry.. what's up?" the Romanian asked. "You know you looked at my file and found someone interesting on the passenger list?" Hermann asked. "You mean, Chloe O'Brian?" Avram asked, raising an eyebrow. All four people in the cockpit were unaware that Chloe, Kurt and Gabrielle were all listening in. There were several seconds of silence before the Romanian spoke again. " _What happened between you and O'Brian? All I'm aware of is that you worked with her during your time with the F.I.S..._ " he enquired. As this was happening, Chloe bit her lip in worry. " _If you must know, O'Brian discovered my indirect involvement in an attempted terror attack against America – she exposed me in other words. If only she'd kept her nose out, then I wouldn't have lost everything.."_ the German said, anger in this voice. "Do you want me to go find her?" Avram asked. "Yes... please... _search the cabin and bring her here immediately_ " Hermann replied. Chloe's face fell in utter worry. "Don't worry, you're down here. They won't find you.." Gabrielle put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I guess, but they'll realize I'm down here eventually..." the former analyst started before being interrupted by a slight rattling in the elevator shaft. All 3 looked up and to their right as Belcheck came into view. "I found it... if this plane lands, we're dead!" he explained. Chloe gave a look of confusion. "Found what?" she asked as the Serb climbed out of the shaft. "Metal tubes... on the landing gear.. 10 of them. Don't ask me how they got it but it's VX gas!" he explained. The faces on Kurt and Gabrielle turned blank, but Chloe's darkened in horror. "V... are you sure?" she asked. "100%.." Belcheck said, albeit reluctantly. "Sorry, what's VX gas?" Kurt asked, having never heard of it. "VX gas... it's a nerve agent. Extremely toxic.. in fact, I think it's one of the most toxic nerve agents in the world.." Chloe explained. "One tube is enough to wipe out a whole city... whilst 10 of them can wipe out... a whole country, even a whole continent if you position them well enough.." Belcheck added, sincere regret in his voice. Kurt's eyes widened and Gabrielle's jaw dropped in shock. "My bet is, Hermann will want to get this plane over DC and set off the agent. That's how all of us will be "dead anyway"" he added. "Isn't there anyway we could get rid of the gas or something?" Gabrielle asked. Chloe shook her head. "I wouldn't be surprised if the gas has some sort of detonator that will set off the tubes when we're over DC; even if we moved them to somewhere else in the plane, the tubes will still go off.." she explained.

"We can't just leave them there! Surely.." Kurt exclaimed but Belcheck interrupted. "Until we have some sort of idea on what to do, I'm not touching them. I was lucky not to drop one when I opened the canister.." he said firmly. He looked towards Chloe and saw her shaking. "You ok?" Gabrielle asked. "Sorry, it's just... the mention of nerve gas brings back bad memories" Chloe said, not wanting to go into detail – one of the many victims of the Sentox nerve gas conspiracy had been her friend Edgar, who she had witnessed dying with her very eyes during the attack on CTU. Sensing her mood, Kurt changed subject. "If anyone has any ideas..." he started. There was silence between the four people, who gave an indication of just how serious VX gas on a plane was.

20:29:10PM

–

20:32:06PM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

The Yuri Dolgorskiy was partially surfaced as it moved further down the ocean. Inside, the last un-named member of the group was keeping a close eye on what appeared to be a flight plan indicator. At the main controls were Chadli, Dragusha and Aralica with Benediktov and Krylenko watching over anxiously whilst Divjak was a floor below the main control room, sitting with a laptop connected to a wall panel. " _BINGO! General, come in! The military plane is in firing range_!" the un-named group member suddenly yelled into a headset with a Russian accent. Benediktov instantly repositioned his own headset. "You're absolutely sure, Muratov?" the General asked his compatriot. " _Yes, General_ " came the instant reply. At that, Krylenko leaned onto a control panel and pressed down on a blue button next to a microphone. "Did you hear that, Divjak?" she asked. _"I did. And I have good news of my own – I've almost completed the control reshuffle. As soon as it's done,_ we'll be able to launch or even detonate the missiles by remote control _.._ " the Bosnian explained. " _Ok, but what about right now? We need one of the missiles"_ the Ukrainian asked. "Don't worry, I'm working on it – one is ready to launch on your command!" Divjak replied. Krylenko turned to Aralica. "Lock onto the position of the plane – the moment you do, inform Divjak" she ordered the Croatian, who nodded.

Several miles down the North Atlantic, a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III was overflowing the ocean. Onboard was mostly military equipment but also senior military officers as well as Heller's former chief of staff Mark Boudreau and Ron Clark, a member of the President's cabinet – Boudreau was seated, handcuffed and surrounded by armed soldiers.

Back on the submarine, Aralica's panel console beeped in success. "We're locked on!" he said, before pressing down on the microphone. "Submarine has locked on. Prepare to fire!" he ordered. Divjak typed rapidly on his laptop and hovered his finger above the keypad. Benediktov clicked on the microphone and repositioned his headset so he could speak to everyone onboard the submarine. "My fellow Marina Cell members, we are about to make our first strike against America. Let's just see what these missiles can really do. A.F.E!" he announced and Divjak took that as the order to fire. Finally pressing down on the laptop, on the button marked "1", there were a few seconds of silence. Until a hatch on the top of the submarine opened up and a missile, aimed with a MIRV warhead, launched out – with a splash, it emerged from the water and went further and further into the sky. "Dive, dive, dive!" Benediktov ordered immediately and the submarine submerged under the water as the missile moved to horizontally and headed south.

Onboard the Globemaster, Clark emerged from the cockpit with a frown. "I shouldn't really be telling you this but.." he said, looking at the former Chief of Staff. "What? Is something wrong with the President?" Mark asked, instantly concerned – he was completely regretful for his actions in London, but it didn't change the fact he had committed treason and indirectly contributed to both Audrey's death and nearly causing the start of a World War. "Thankfully, no. But the Vice-President is dead" Clark said and Mark's expression turned to one of shock. "Details are... so far murky, but it seems his helicopter may have been shot down outside of DC.." Clark started but was then stopped by the sound of an alarm going off. "Everyone buckle down, a missile's been launched at us!" the intercom yelled; only, before anyone could do anything, a huge explosion ripped through the back of the plane and set Clark flying into the door to the cockpit. The plane started to fall downwards, towards the ocean at almost the speed of sound. Boudreau fell out of his seat and looked straight at Clark, until the plane finally hit the ocean surface, coming apart instantly with another explosion.

On the Yuri Dolgorskiy, the plane had been on the flight path indicator – until the explosion meant it vanished from radar. "Target destroyed, General.." Muratov confirmed. " _Excellent... everything is going according to plan..._ " Benediktov said over the headset.

–

20:37:10PM

 **Ukraine**

Flying at the maximum speed the helicopter would give him, Jack checked the flight planner – he had only been in the air for about 13 or so minutes but he was already a third of the way to Kiev. So far, so good. Down below him, however, as he overflew the countryside, he was unaware he was being spied upon. Hidden by the dark sky, with the moon now covered by clouds, a lone man on the ground saw the helicopter fly by. Catching a glimpse of the side, he pulled his radio from his holster. "Confirmed – helicopter is Kazan Ansat-U #18. No doubt Bauer is aboard – proceed with launch!" he spoke into it and on the other side of the field, a small group of soldiers started to climb into 3 military attack helicopters.

As the helicopters finally lifted off, one of the pilots received orders over the radio. " _You are pursuing a Kazan Ansat-U helicopter – you have orders to shoot down by any means necessary, even if over civilian areas_ " the distorted voice relayed. "Yes, sir!" the pilot said as the helicopter finally left the ground. " _And one more thing, Rogachyov, between you and me"_ the voice added. Rogachyov quickly took off his headset and picked up the radio. "Sir?" he asked. " _This is something I've not told the other soldiers and for good reason... but the pilot of the helicopter is Jack Bauer. Russia may want him captured alive, but if Eastern Cell are to succeed in their plans, Bauer must die! The entire success of the A.F.E's plans depend on him dying.._ " the voice made it clear. Rogachyov nodded. "Yes, sir.. " he spoke into the radio before replacing it and putting the headset back on, as the three helicopters rose into the night sky.

Onboard the Kazan, Jack calmly moved the helicopter forward with the controls when he heard a beeping from one of the consoles – three shapes not too dis-similar from the helicopter had appeared on the radar behind him. Frowning, he knocked on the radar to see if it was just a fault.. but it wasn't. In fact, the three shapes were getting closer and closer. Then it dawned on him. "DAMN IT!" he yelled as he pushed down on the controls and the helicopter moved downwards towards the ground just as one of the attack helicopters started firing a machine gun at the Kazan. Jack's quick instincts had meant the bullets missed entirely and even if any did come cross to hitting it, they felt into the spinning blades. Immediately moving left, he picked up speed and raced through the sky in attempts to shake off the helicopter.

–

 **Canadian Airspace**

Onboard Air Force One, McKaye was walking towards Heller's office with his phone in hand. "You're absolutely sure about this?" he said, almost shouting into his phone. " _I'm positive, sir. I wouldn't lie about something like this.._ " the female voice insisted. "I know you wouldn't, but the President has a lot on his plate. Just keep looking!" he ordered before hanging on and walking into Heller's office. The President and a Secret Service agent looked up. "I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but I've just been contacted by the White House" he said. Heller gave a look of worry. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Don't ask me how and it's not confirmed if something has happened or not, but.. the plane carrying your former Chief of Staff. It's just vanished from radar, no reason why" the MI-5 agent started. Heller's face turned to one of shock – any other day, he perhaps might have not cared about his former Chief of Staff owing to his actions in London but this was different. Much like everything else that had happened in the past few hours, from the hijacking to the death of the Vice-President, something did not add up about it.

"You're sure it's vanished from radar?" the Secret Service agent asked. McKaye nodded. "It's just gone. The CVN Harry S Truman is in the area where the plane was last seen so they're going to investigate. We should hear something from them soon but until then.." he added. Heller could only nod and McKaye noticed a list on the lap of the Secret Service agent "Anything on the list of people Hermann wants released?" he asked, changing subject. "Yes.. and to be honest, I can't make any sense of it. It consists of 40 people, but not one of them are American – all of them originate from a European country and emigrated to the US over the past 15 years" the agent replied. "What's more, a majority of them haven't even committed any serious crimes; we got petty theft, possession of drugs, bodily assault, but only a handful of these people are in prison long-term" Heller said, the shock having worn off. "You'd think Hermann would want prisoners on death row released.." the agent added. McKaye nodded. "Can I see the list? Maybe there's something we've missed" he asked. The Secret Service agent handed the MI-5 agent the list, which he scanned. But it just served to confuse him – the crimes of the people on the list were listed alright but no-one stood out. If someone was going to demand the list of people to be released, you'd think they would go for people who are a threat to national security, not people who were in jail for mainly petty things.

"What if... no, sorry." he started but stopped. "No, go on, son. I'll take any suggestion if it means understanding why this list of people.." Heller pushed. "What if.. these are Pseudonyms? They may be the names listed but they could mean someone else entirely.." McKaye suggested. The Secret Service agent and Heller exchanged looks. "It is possible.." the agent said after a pause. "Contact the White House, get them to go over the names again. Maybe we HAVE missed something.." Heller ordered him and the agent nodded, leaving and taking the list of names with him. As he left, McKaye turned to the President. "What about Hermann's other demand? The withdrawal of forces around Europe?" he asked. Heller sighed and shook his head. "The armed forces I can recall easily but there are agents undercover as we speak – withdrawing them could prove fatal and seeing as Hermann knew about the death of the Vice-President, I wouldn't put it past him to know everything that's happening.." he said. He looked up with sadness in his eyes, trying to make sense of the last few hours.

–

20:43:12PM

 **Norwegian Sea**

Ever since being given the order to search the cabin for Chloe O'Brian around 20 minutes previously, Avram had done just that – armed with an iPad that had the image of O'Brian on it, he had gone through all the plane classes in search. But he couldn't find her. At all. After checking first-class and finding nothing, he frowned and pulled up his portable radio. "Sir, I've checked the cabin and there's no sign of O'Brian – I know it said she was on the passenger list but what if she didn't check in?" he asked. It took a few seconds before there was a reply. " _I'm not accusing you of lying, Avram,_ but are you sure you've checked everywhere?" Hermann replied. He wasn't happy that O'Brian wasn't in the cabin as that meant one thing – she was below-deck which had been cut off from the rest of the plane. " _Trust me, I checked the whole cabin. Economy, business and first class_!" the Romanian insisted over the radio. _"_ Then you didn't check everywhere.. _I think our elusive friend is below-deck, where we just can't get to.._ " the German replied. Avram's eyes rose in shock – why did he think of that? "Ok, I'll get some men together and..." he started but Hermann cut him off. " _And do what exactly? You haven't been able to break in to the elevator shaft yet so what makes you think_ you will this time?" he pointed out.

" _Just look over the schematics for the plane.. you'll find a way down there – it may be cramped, it may be tough to try and move around, but it's better than trying a repeated formula_!" he added. Avram sighed. "Alright, sir" he replied and returned the radio to his holster, before picking up the iPad again. And then stopped – Jelavic had reported to him earlier about how another hijacker had heard a noise from the belly of the plane and had opened up a hatch to investigate. "Of course.." he gave a smile and heard towards the stairs.

20:46:34PM

–

20:51: 47PM

 **Canadian Airspace**

Heller was still seated at his desk, now watching his phone – he was expecting Hermann's call any second now. The White House was still checking everything over with the list of prisoners; so far, about 10 of them checked out and whilst he was still confused as to why the German wanted 40 imprisoned Europeans released, he was willing to compromise with the hijackers on that front as they didn't appear to be a security threat. His door knocked. "Come in" he said as McKaye walked in. "The White House has heard from the Ronald Reagan.." he started and upon seeing Heller's face, continued. "They've found the plane's wreckage strewing on the surface of the ocean.. no survivors". Heller sat back in shock. "Is there... any indication of what could have bought the plane down?" he asked. McKaye shook his head. "All I really know is what they've told me" he said. As if on cue, the phone started to ring. Heller instantly moved to pick it up. Slowly bringing the speaker to his mouth, he spoke into it. "Yes.."

" _Mr President..._ I hope you have changed your stance from an hour ago.." Hermann said tauntingly. Knowing it was the German, Heller put the phone down and pressed down on the speaker button. "Yes.. I have. I have received your list and I am currently in the process of ordering the release of all the prisoners on that list.." he said. He heard a long, drawn-out sigh on the other end of the phone. " _I'm pleased you've changed your mind, Mr President.. I really am.._ but here's the thing – you've not ordered for the release. You've merely requested they be checked over by the White House in case there's something you missed. In my mind, that's not releasing anyone.." Hermann said, his gun in his free hand and pointing into the air. Heller and McKaye exchanged looks of bewilderment. "How.. how could you know something that that?" the President asked. " _Oh, come now, sir_.. You don't think I know anything? I would have thought you know better than that. And whilst we're at it, I'm curious as to why you haven't resigned yet – how can the people trust someone like you to run the country when you can't even remember something as simple as my name?" Hermann replied, his voice feigning sympathy. Heller was stumped – how on earth did Hermann know something like that when the only ones present in the meeting when that happened were himself, McKaye and trusted military officials?!

" _However, sir, I am going to be generous on this occasion..._ you've made some progress on my demands and that's something. When I ring again, I expect the order for prisoners to be released to have been made or there will be more blood on your conscience. This is a one-time offer, Mr President.. _I expect you to take it_ " the German added before hanging up. As he put the phone down in the cockpit, Captain Black spoke up. "Did you mean it... when you spared more bloodshed?" he asked. Hermann looked at him and smiled. "To quote the Joker from the film "The Dark Knight", "I'm a man of my word"" he replied.

Back on Air Force One, Heller simply couldn't believe what he was hearing – Hermann knew about him forgetting the German's name? That could mean one thing. "A mole... we have a mole in the Pentagon.." he said to himself quietly before looking up at McKaye. "Contact the White House – until this situation has been resolved, keep all communication with the Pentagon to an absolute minimum" he ordered. The MI-5 agent nodded and left the room. "It's times like this.. when I could really use Jack.." Heller said to himself, putting his hands together and elbows on the table. "Where are you, Jack?" he asked.

–

 **Norwegian Sea**

The floor panel leading to the part of the plane with the landing gear was forced up and Avram jumped down, followed by three other gun-men. As the panel was replaced in the floor, Avram was the first to speak. "Our orders are simple – find and capture Chloe O'Brian.." he said, holding the iPad in one hand with Chloe's picture visible. "And be careful as you go – we don't want to alert them to our presence." he added as he got on his hands and knees, slowly crawling towards the area with the elevator shaft.

In the below-deck cabin, Belcheck stood on guard outside the door whilst Chloe typed rapidly on her laptop, with Kurt cuddling a tearful Gabrielle, all unaware of the impending danger.

–

20:57:18PM

 **Ukraine**

Flying closer to the ground than it should be, the Kazan helicopter raced across the Ukraine countryside with the attack helicopters in fast pursuit. For a good 16 minutes, Jack had been trying everything to shake off his attackers but no matter what he did, they were relentless – even though they had been overflying civilian areas at times, they wouldn't stop firing on the Kazan. Jack was praying that Kiev wasn't too far away and because of him constantly having to keep a constant eye on the windscreen, he wasn't able to check the flight plan he had plotted. He wished he hadn't gotten rid of all those grenades now though would they have really helped in this situation? As he started to pull the controls up, he was almost blinded by several bright lights and the road below him turned into a freeway. He quickly looked at the flight planner and it dawned on him – he was out on the outskirts of the city of Kiev. He was so nearly there, but now he had to land. He contemplated contacting Kiev International Airport, but they might be in league with the rebels perusing him and he couldn't risk potentially flying into a trap. Plus the helicopters were still pursuing him and he had to somehow land without them firing everything in their arsenal at him.

Suddenly, Jack was bought out of his thoughts by the helicopter shaking – the machine gun on one of the pursuing choppers had hit the outer hull and managed to partially damage the fuel tank. The whole helicopter started to fall closer and closer to the ground, whilst the controls started to lose power one-by-one. As the freeway grew longer and the helicopter slowly fell closer to the ground, Jack made a decision – he was going to land on the freeway itself. He had landed an aircraft on a freeway before – when he was trying to recover a piece of audio that implemented Charles Logan in the events of the Sentox nerve gas conspiracy, he had taken control of a plane en-route to Germany and landed it on a freeway in order to escape fighter jets that had been ordered to shoot the plane down. Taking what little control he had, he pushed down and watched as the ground caught closer – the road he was on had traffic coming towards him but not that much.

"Here goes nothing.." he said as machine gun bullets were continuously fired into the hull, the wheels now only inches from the road.

21:00:00PM


	6. 6: 9pm - 10pm (EST)

6: 9pm – 10pm (EST):

Hey, guys. Here's the 6th installment and just a warning, it's very Jack-centric. As you're reading, you'll understand why. Feedback is appreciated, as is any constructive criticism and honestly, if you feel there's anything wrong with the chapter (i.e. character personalities, my writing, etc), PLEASE LET ME KNOW!

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

 **The following takes place between 9pm and 10pm, European Standard Time:**

–

21:00:01PM

 **Ukraine**

The wheels of the Kazan were now mere centimetres from the ground as Jack flew closer and closer to the ground. But at long last, the wheels hit the ground and the helicopter lurged forward as a result, gathering speed. Oncoming traffic who had seen the helicopter coming and honked their horns were now braking to a halt and swerving to get out of the way – some traffic were lucky as the Kazan just dodged them but others not so much, as they were just sideswiped out of the way. The impact of hitting some cars and sending them flying almost sent the helicopter back into the air, but Jack fiercely wrestled for control. The attack helicopters, despite being ordered to shoot at the Kazan no matter where it was, were now flying above the freeway and watching the Kazan race against the traffic. " _He's all over the road.._ " a pilot from one of the helicopters said suddenly over the radio, overheard by Rogachyov.

Jack seemed to have regained full control of the helicopter as more traffic continued to swerve out of the way... until he heard the sound of creaking metal and the front of the helicopter slammed onto the ground without prior warning. Sparks flew up from the ground as Rogachyov saw what appeared to be a tyre from the Kazan fly right past his helicopter. As Jack wrestled with the controls, he heard another slight creaking sound and then the helicopter fell to the ground on the left.. and the whole craft slid so that the left side of it was now in front, scraping along the road into the oncoming traffic. Little did anyone in any of the helicopters know, however, of the oncoming danger – coming around the corner of the freeway at a fairly fast speedwas a fuel tanker and even with all the lights on the road, the driver couldn't see anything. But then as he fully rounded the corner, he spotted the carnage. "WHAT THE HELL?!" he shouted in Ukraine and slammed on the brakes as hard as he could; but the weight of the tanker-trailer behind him caused the truck front to veer off to the side whilst the whole thing slid sideways so that the tanker was exposed for all to see. Completely unaware, Jack grabbed onto the controls as hard as he could, hoping to ride out the helicopter sliding.. until there was a large crash and whilst the Kazan was slowed down by the impact, it was still sliding along the road.

But finally, after what seemed like an eternity, it slowed right to a halt and Jack only kept in his seat because of his death grip on the controls. As he slowly got out of the chair, he moved towards the hatch – but it was stuck. And then he smelt something.. FUEL! The helicopter had crashed right into the fuel tanker and pushed it along with it. As soon as the helicopter had forced the tanker off the front of the truck, the driver had got out and watched as both finally came to a halt, before running over to check for survivors. The attack helicopters had witnessed the whole thing and were getting ready to move in to attack when Rogachyov stopped them. "WAIT! Let's see if anyone survived first.." he ordered. The tanker driver raced to just outside the Kazan and spotted Jack trying to push open the hatch, but it had jammed in the crash-landing. Suddenly spotting the tanker catching fire, the driver realized there was very little time left before there was a massive explosion. "STAND BACK!" he yelled and Jack just about understood him. Racing back to his truck, he grabbed a crowbar next to the driver's seat and ran back to the helicopter which was now standing to catch fire – forcing the crowbar in as hard as he could, the driver slowly but surely forced the hatch open and at long last, the hatch flew open. Jack raced out and pulled the driver along with him.

Both ducked down just in time as the helicopter and fuel tanker blew up in a mighty explosion. The shock-waves destroyed the glass on the surrounding cars and even the attack helicopters. "HIT THE DIRT!" one yelled as the trio of helicopters either flew into the sky or landed to avoid any possible fireballs. But whilst two made it out of the way, the third one wasn't so lucky as a fireball smashed into it and it exploded instantly. Another large fireball flew into the sky and people could see the explosion from the other side of Kiev, it was so big. Finally, as the explosion seemed to settle down, the driver looked up to try and find the person piloting the helicopter.. but he was nowhere to be seen. Rogachyov saw this too – he had spotted Bauer getting out of the helicopter alive but before he could give the order to fire, the helicopter and tanker exploded. "Where's Bauer?" he asked himself. Both of them were unaware that the reason Jack wasn't on the freeway was because he was now under it – during one of the big explosions, he had taken a risk and jumped over the barrier, down onto a truck that had crashed because of the first explosion and then down to underneath the freeway.

As he heard alarms and sirens in the distance, Jack knew he had to move. Now. Checking himself over for damage and keeping a close eye on what was potentially over him, he walked towards the city centre. He had made it to Kiev unscathed and that was the main thing. He had less than an hour to find that plane and get on it. Now to make it to the airport, wherever it was, so he had to move now. He found a deserted alleyway and started to make his way down it towards the main road at the end, ignoring the looks he was getting from the odd drunk - in the distance, he could see fire engines and ambulances racing to his right, presumably towards the scene of the helicopter fire. As the end of the alleyway drew closer, Jack instantly remembered; the officer's jacket he was wearing. Anyone could easily tell it was a Russian's and if spotted, he would attract attention. He couldn't let that happen. Stopping, he took off the jacket and threw it behind a pile of drums and out of immediate sight.

Finally, he emerged from the alleyway. Hearing the sound of plane engines, he looked up and saw a plane in the sky, rising further and further. It couldn't be too far away, he thought to himself. As he prepared to start walking again, a long motorcade drove by with one of the limo's wearing the flags of the Ukraine. Jack stopped – he was sure the Ukraine didn't have a president anymore, not since the revolution that ousted the former president and led to the occupation of Crimea by Russia. Something was off and whilst he didn't really have time to investigate it, he knew he had to follow the motorcade.

–

21:07:32PM

 **Norwegian Sea**

Having been forced to crawl the whole way from the space in the floor to behind the elevator shaft, Avram and his men were very nearly behind the hole made in the wall by Belcheck, which had now been covered back up. "Keep quiet, we're nearly in.." he whispered to the men whilst he figured out how to remove the panel quietly. Outside the below-deck cabin, Belcheck was still keeping guard and looking out for anything suspicious. Looking back towards the gap underneath the elevator that led to the belly of the plane, he stopped and noticed it almost rattling. Looking closely towards it, he was mortified to see it open – quickly, he moved back inside the cabin and pushed the door to. "We got a problem, big problem!" he said, worry in his voice. Chloe looked up. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Don't ask me how but I just saw the wall panel below the elevator open.. I think they may have made it down here!" he replied. Chloe's face dropped in horror. "Then we're trapped.." Gabrielle said slowly.

The cabin fell silent but then Kurt stopped. "Wait... how big is the gap between the space in the wall and the elevator?" he asked Belcheck. "About.. 1 or 2 metres.." the Serb rose an eyebrow but still answered. "What are you thinking right now?" Chloe asked. Kurt sighed. "Chloe, you, Gabrielle and the Serb get in the bathroom. I've got a plan to get us out of here but you'll have to trust me.." he said. All three people looked at him, not moving. "Come on, NOW! Please, just trust me.." he added. After several more seconds, Belcheck finally moved, followed by Gabrielle and then Chloe. The women walked into the bathroom and Kurt closed the door after them, making sure it was firmly closed. Underneath the elevator, Avram crawled through the gap and looked up at the elevator. "Careful as you come through.." he warned those behind him as he made it into the cabin area. As the gun-men behind him followed, he turned towards them. "You have a clear enough image of O'Brian.. find her and shoot anyone who tries to get in your way!" he ordered them. The men nodded and the Romanian walked down the cabin hallway – most of the doors were closed but then he noticed one slightly ajar. Raising an eyebrow, he walked towards it and noticing his men just barging through the doors of the other cabins, decided to retain his decency and knocked on the door.

"Give me a sec!" a male voice replied. Inside the dark bathroom, Gabrielle pushed Chloe and Belcheck towards the shower area. "Hide in there, I'll cover you if necessary.." she insisted as she moved the curtain across to cover the space. Outside, Kurt opened the door to see Avram standing there. "Hello, sir. I'm sorry to bother you but are you at all busy?" the Romanian asked, returning to his Dixie accent in the hopes those in the cabins had no idea of what was going on. Of course, Kurt didn't believe the accent one bit but to avoid suspicion, he went along. "Not really – is there a problem?" he replied politely. "Kind-of, sir, I just want to ask a few things... have you been hearing anything over the intercom within the last few hours?" Avram enquired. Kurt made a face and shook his head. "Don't believe so.. I didn't think the intercom worked down here anyway.." he said. The Romanian nodded. "Why do you ask?" Kurt added. "A situation has arisen in the upper decks.. have you seen this woman?" Avram asked, pulling out his iPad and showing it to Kurt – on it was a photo of Chloe.

Kurt moved to shake his head but stopped. "Why do you need to find her?" he asked, feigning suspicion. "This woman has been branded as a threat to the security of this plane – it's imperative we find her..." the Romanian replied but was interrupted by several crashes coming from cabins nearer the elevator shaft. "Sorry, got a few colleagues that are a bit trigger-happy.. TONE IT DOWN, YOU NUMBSKULLS! We're trying to be stealthy!" Avram sighed and yelled at anyone in ear-shot. Inside the bathroom, Chloe grabbed Belcheck's hand and crushed it. "What's he doing.." she asked quietly. "Well, now that you think about it, I have seen her.." Kurt said. Avram's eyes rose in delight. "WHERE?!" he demanded to know. "I think it's.. the very end cabin she's in.." came the reply. Within the bathroom, Chloe sighed in relief, but realized far too late that it was perhaps a bit too loud as Avram asked another question. "What was that?" he asked. Kurt's insides turned, nervous and he came up with the first thing that came to mind. "That was my girlfriend, she's currently in the bathroom.." he said – it was the truth but he might have just messed up his own plans.

"You never said you had a girlfriend.." Avram said, suspicion in his tone. Kurt wanted to reply that he'd technically not asked but he didn't want to make things possibly worse. "Please move out of the way, sir.." the Romanian ordered. A nervous Kurt didn't move and an annoyed Avram pushed him out of the way and into the wall. Without warning, he kicked out at the door and it went flying back to see a startled Gabrielle, panties down, sitting on the toilet. As soon as she heard the plan going wrong, she came up with a back-up. "DO YOU MIND?" she asked, rather annoyed. Avram poked his head in and examined the bathroom to see if there was anyone heading. There was not. "I do apologise, madam.." the Romanian lied through his teeth and turned back towards Kurt. "You say this woman was in the very end-cabin?" he asked. "Yes.. now I would appreciate if you would leave me and my girlfriend alone!" he said coldly and crossly. "I have all I needed, sir.. I apologize for the intrusion but this is a matter of urgency.." Avram insisted before leaving. As soon as he left the cabin, he whistled. "END CABIN! ALL OF YOU!" he ordered and waited for the remainder of his men to come past him before turning himself towards the end cabin.

As soon as he walked off, Kurt walked into the bathroom. "Coast is clear! We have barely any time, so we have to move now!" he insisted as Chloe and Belcheck emerged from the shower and out of the bathroom. Gabrielle got back up and followed the three quietly out of the cabin. "If we're gonna do this, we'll need to be stealthy.." Kurt made it clear. As he, Chloe and Belcheck started to walk towards the shaft, Gabrielle looked towards the open door. Belcheck looked back. "Gabrielle?" he asked. Kurt and Chloe stopped. "Go, I'll hold them off!" she said and she ran towards the open door. Inside the end cabin, the gun-men were turning everything over and sideways in search of their target and were left confused when it became clear the room had been empty. Before Avram could do anything, he saw the door slam shut from the corner of his eye. "The hell.." he said to himself in Romanian and as he went to reopen it, it found it very hard. On the other side of the door, Gabrielle was holding on for dear life with both hands. She turned her head to see the other three still standing there. "GO ON, GO! I SAID I WOULD HOLD THEM OFF!" she insisted and Belcheck instantly moved, knowing they didn't have time.

He jumped into the shaft and towards the wall panel, as Chloe followed suite, followed in turn by Kurt who finally realized what his girlfriend was trying to do. Just as Chloe made it through the wall, Avram finally pulled the door inwards and Gabrielle went flying inwards. "STOP THEM!" the Romanian yelled as he spotted Kurt in the elevator shaft. "GET DOWN!" Chloe yelled at Kurt who instantly moved out of the line of fire and just in time as two gun-men fired their machine guns at the gap in the wall; luckily, the bullets missed Chloe and Belcheck and even more luckily, bounced off the pipes without making a dent. "Wait, you idiots! You could have caused some damage to the plane doing that!" Avram yelled at the two trigger-happy gun-men and using the opportunity, Kurt got back up and made it through the wall panel. "Come on, get them!" the Romanian yelled and the two ran towards the shaft – however, during the firing of bullets, one managed to lodge in the lift itself and had somehow succeeded in disabling the emergency brake and as the two men started running, the lift slowly made its way down towards the bottom of the shaft. One of the men stopped as he knew they weren't going to make it but the other stopped only as the lift came to a halt and he only just stopped himself from crashing into one of the walls. As he regained his senses, he spotted something. "SIR! WE FOUND GOLEA!" he yelled and the Romanian came running over.

He stopped as he got to the lift entrance – his eyes widened and his jaw dropped as he saw the dead body of his Romanian comrade. He sighed and picked up his radio. "Sir... we made it to the cabins, but it seems O'Brian was too quick for us. She's in the belly of the plane" he said grimly. Hermann sighed over the radio. " _I see. We'll find O'Brian, don't worry._ " he said. "And sir? We found Golea.. or at least, her body in the elevator.." the Romanian added. " _She was a good person, Avram. Put her in one of the cabins, give her some dignity.._ " the German replied to the news. Avram was about to reply when he heard a cry behind him. "GET OFF ME!" Gabrielle yelled as one of the Romanian's men pulled her towards the lift with a grapple on her arm. Avram turned and his eyes rose in surprise at what he saw. "I should have know you were involved! Where's O'Brian?" he demanded. "I don't know.. surely you should check the elevator shaft.." Gabrielle said sarcastically, refusing to break. Angered, Avram slapped her hard and she fell onto the floor. "Give me one reason not to kill you where you lay.." he snarled in anger. " _AVRAM!_ " Hermann said suddenly over the radio. Sighing, the Romanian picked up his radio. "Sir?" he said. " _Keep the girl alive.. we may need her if we want to lure O'Brian out. Bring her to the cockpit.._ " the German ordered.

"Yes, sir.." Avram relented and he indicated to another gun-man to pick Gabrielle up. But as he did, he pulled his pistol out and shot her in the shoulder. Gabrielle screamed out in pain as the gun-men looked towards the Romanian in surprise. He glared in reply and looked towards the other cabins where other passengers had emerged in all the chaos. "Round up as many as you can.. I'm going to see Hermann.." he ordered before grabbing Gabrielle by her uninjured arm and dragging her into the lift. Near the landing gear, meanwhile, Chloe, Belcheck and Kurt were crawling through the belly of the plane. All three were thankful for Gabrielle causing the distraction but it was as Chloe said – "We should never have left her..". Kurt felt the same way and was about to ask Belcheck why he didn't try and stop her when he heard a rattling above them. He looked up to see a floor panel being tugged at. "Wait.. get out of sight.." he ordered the two in front of him. Chloe and Belcheck quickly did as he said, whilst Kurt moved to just underneath the panel but out of immediate sight. The panel finally opened up and the barrel of a machine gun came into view. "Come out, come out, wherever you are.." a voice said – it was the same gun-man who thought he had heard something in the same area less than an hour before-hand.

As the gun came further down into the belly of the plane, Kurt made a split-second choice and made a move for the gun. Forcing it down, he managed to wrestle the gun from the hijacker and forced it upwards, firing several shots into him. As other gun-men were alerted to the noise, Kurt managed to grab the upward-facing panel and slam it down whilst the hijacker fell to the floor dead, his body surrounded by terrified passengers. A floor below, Kurt ran towards where Chloe and Belcheck had hidden. "Come on, move!" he said as the two got themselves off the floor, shocked by what had just happened.

21:13:31PM

–

21:18:48PM

 **Canadian Airspace**

Air Force One was now just 40 minutes away from landing back in DC – but that was the least of Heller's worries. On top of having to try and find a way of dealing with the hijacker's demands, he now had reason to suspect that there was a mole in the Pentagon itself as Hermann had found out not just about what he had ordered the White House to do, but also about his dementia, which was something that was only known by a handful of people.

Sitting in his office, he looked up as McKaye came back in. "You were a long time, son.." he commented. "Sorry, sir, contacting the White House took a while. But they've got your orders and they've agreed to limit their intelligence to the Pentagon" the MI-5 agent replied. Heller nodded. "Ok and how's the prisoner release coming along?" he enquired. "Well, we've hit a few stumbling blocks. The prisons are demanding reasons as to why you want the selected prisoners released – I tried to cover for you but they all made it clear they want a direct answer from you, sir.." McKaye said. Heller sighed and put his hands in his head. "At this rate, we'll never get them released within the hour.. get them all on the line! If Hermann finds out they haven't been released, he'll think we're stalling.." he ordered. "Yes, sir.." McKaye responded and he promptly left. "Oh and McKaye?" Heller quickly said. "Sir?" the MI-5 agent popped his head back round. "Keep checking intelligence for anything on Jack Bauer.." the President ordered. "Yes, sir.." McKaye said, again leaving. Heller reached for his jug of water and poured himself some into a glass cup. He knew that Jack should really be the least of his concerns but he couldn't help thinking that Jack's disappearance was somehow linked with the plane hijacking.

–

 **Ukraine**

Jack had been following the motorcade for well over 10 minutes and had so far managed to avoid being detected by going through alleyways. Finally, sneaking his head around one corner, he noticed the motorcade going down into what appeared to be an underground car park. Checking to ensure he wasn't being spied on or worse, Jack then made his way towards the car park, making sure to stay on the outer limits so he couldn't be seen instantly – standing on several concrete blocks running alongside the underground building, he looked inside to see the motorcade at a standstill, followed by several men who he presumed were bodyguards getting out of the front and back limos, as well as other men getting off of motorcycles. It appeared to be a sort-of switch-over between drivers, only the new drivers were nowhere to be seen. But the million-dollar question was, "who was in the main limo and why?". Jack knew full well that he didn't have time to waste but something didn't add up with this. Suddenly, he heard a rumbling and he looked to his right to see a large van drive up and turn around so that the back could link up with what appeared to be an unloading bay. Ducking down so that couldn't be spotted, he got closer and closer to the van. He made it just as the back doors opened and a group of men emerged, presumably the replacement drivers, walking through the unloading bay doors.

The van driver looked set to go and Jack was half-tempted to just stop him and take the van to the airport but his gut was telling him to investigate the supposed motorcade – what if it was a façade or something else? Ultimately, he watched the van slip away and made his way to the unloading bay doors, heading inside and down some dark stairs. As he got closer and closer to the bottom, he started to hear voices just around the corner from the steps – getting his ear right up to the wall on the right, he listened into a conversation between two Russians. "I just don't understand why there even has to be a switch-over; can the current drivers not be trusted?" one asked. "It's not that, not at all. But the fact is, and don't ask me how, Ukraine rebels have managed to uncover the identity of our passenger. Switching over might throw them off the scent and we may be able to get him to Kiev International, then out of the country safely" the second Russian replied. The reply was what just Jack had wanted to hear – they were indeed heading to the airport. Now he had a plan to get there undetected; take the place of one of the new drivers and sneak onto the passenger flight through the cargo hatch, much like he had done over 10 years ago in trying to uncover evidence of Charles Logan having a role in the Sentox conspiracy.

He slightly turned his head around the corner and watched as one of the two drivers walked through the double-doors, out into the car park. This was his chance – using one of his boots, he slammed it into the wall and it made a slight, but still audible sound. "Hello?" the Russian asked and Jack slammed his boot against the wall a second time. Another audible sound. "Hello...?" the Russian asked again and he pulled a gun, silencer attached, from his holster, slowly making his way around the corner. But as soon as his head could be seen from the stairs, Jack instantly made a grab for him and pulled him up the stairs, managing to easily snap his neck before the Russian could even make a cry for help – having managed to kill him, Jack instantly pulled him up the stairs.

Outside the motorcade, the switch-over was taking place as the new group of drivers shook hands with the current drivers – but one of them, a motorcycle rider, was looking around with confusion on his face. He walked up to a Russian security agent. "I count one less driver than there should be.. is someone not being replaced?" he asked. The agent had his own look-around and rose an eyebrow. "Wait here.." he ordered the driver and walked towards the double-doors. As soon as he entered them, he looked up at the stairs. "Pavlyuchenko!" he called. Silence. "PAVLYUCHENKO!" the agent called again. Finally, there was a sort-of rustling at the top of the stairs and Jack emerged, now wearing the dead driver's clothes which were complete with sunglasses and helmet. "Sorry, sir. I thought I heard something upstairs and went to check.." he said in Russian. The agent rose an eyebrow at the explanation but finally nodded. "Get out there and switch-over, we leave in a few minutes.." he ordered, pointing out at the waiting motorcade. Jack, or Pavlyuchenko as the agent saw him, nodded and walked out to the waiting cars. Shaking hands with the motorcycle driver he was switching over with, he sat on the bike which was to the back left of the main limo and waited.

The Russian agent walked to the front of the motorcade, watching the previous drivers heading through the double-doors. Jack was thankful he had managed to hide the body out of their sight. "Your orders are simple.. you are to safely deliver your passenger to Kyiv International Airport. But be careful, as Ukraine rebels have managed to uncover the identity of the passenger. His safety is of the utmost importance. Am I clear?" he spoke. "Yes, sir!" the drivers responded. "Very well." the agent said and he walked towards the front limo, getting in through the open door and closing it. As the motorcade began to start their engines, Jack noticed a window on the main limo opening, followed by a head popping out. Jack simply looked at the limo in the hopes the person would turn his head towards him and he did. Within an instance, Jack's blood turned cold and his face darkened. He knew who the passenger was. "Yuri Suvarov..." he said to himself in anger. The front motorcycles began to move forward and the rest of the motorcade followed as all vehicles emerged from the car park and back into the city proper.

–

21:24:31PM

 **Norwegian Sea**

Gabrielle's pained screams could be heard throughout economy class as two gun-men forced her towards the cockpit, with a grim-faced Avram walking behind her. She wasn't trying to fight the two men but one was holding onto her by her injured shoulder which was just making the pain worse. In the cockpit, Lightspeed had heard the screaming coming and upon looking at Hermann, who simply looked back at him but with his gun in hand, promptly unlocked the door. The two men walked straight in, placing Gabrielle on a seat positioned behind Captain Black and one grabbed her arm, the one attached to the injured shoulder, forcing it up and handcuffing it to a pole. Gabrielle grit her teeth to try and keep up the pain from the shoulder. Finally, Avram walked in and Hermann got up, walking over to Gabrielle. "So.. you're one of the people who has been causing me a great deal of trouble.." he said, grabbing her head and forcing her to make eye contact with him. "Sir, with the greatest respect, you should just kill her now! We had a golden chance to catch O'Brian and she interfered!" Avram insisted, glaring at her. Hermann sighed and looked up at the Romanian. "That is an option but as it is, O'Brian is not going to come out without a fight. We may need this young lady..." he made it clear. "Fat chance!" Gabrielle suddenly snarled. All eyes turned on her. "I'm not going to help you scum and I wouldn't help you even if you put a gun to my head!" she added, venom in her tone.

Hermann smirked. "Oh, you'll help us all right! Even if you say you won't help us, you will..." he said, smiling evilly. He turned to Avram. "Continue your search of the plane.." he ordered. "Sir.." the Romanian nodded and he left the cockpit, followed by the two gun-men. Lightspeed, noticing the German reaching for his gun, instantly relocked the door. "So... where is Chloe O'Brian?" Hermann asked, kneeling down so he was almost at Gabrielle's height. The young American grit her teeth again, determined to not let her captor force the information out of her.

A floor below, meanwhile, Kurt came to a stop in front of a large thick wall, followed closely by Chloe and Belcheck. "Where are we?" Chloe asked. Kurt looked up and saw slots in what appeared to be a vent. "Hang on.." he said, peeking through them for a few seconds. "We're right above the plane's restaurant area.." he confirmed. "Anyone down there?" Belcheck enquired. Kurt took another look. "Doesn't seem so... oh, wait!" he said then stopped. Coming in from the area of the plane that housed the duty-free shop were two gun-men, including Jelavic. "Damn it.. we've got gun-men down there. And I wouldn't be surprised if there's back-up even further back.." he said. Chloe sighed in annoyance and Belcheck tried to think of a plan. "What about the cargo area?" he asked suddenly. Kurt and Chloe looked at him. "When I went through here, I think I saw some kind of hatch that goes underneath the restaurant and the duty-free. That could lead to the cargo area with all the luggage.." he explained. Chloe smiled. "Can you remember where?" she asked. The Serb moved his head upwards, scanning the area. "Over there.." he said finally and Chloe crawled to where he was looking. "Got it!" she said and she was to pull up on the handle when Kurt interrupted. "Wait a sec!" he said. Chloe and Belcheck looked at him. "I just realized... I don't think that part of the plane is pressurized. You'd either pass out or you'd cause a breach in the plane's hull!" he said. Belcheck was first to speak. "We can't stay here, though. Sooner or later, they'll get down there.." he said. "...and if we try to take out the gun-men down there, it'll end with all of them taking us at gunpoint.." Chloe added.

Kurt didn't look very convinced. "It's a risk we have to take, Gabrielle wouldn't have just wanted us to get here and do nothing.." Chloe insisted and finally, though his face suggested he was still conflicted, Kurt gave in. "Fine.." he said and as he crawled over, Chloe slowly lifted up the hatch. Nothing happened. "We're good... hold your breath.." Belcheck said as he slowly climbed down. Chloe followed as the Serb slowly walked forwards. Finally, Kurt joined them and closed the hatch as he did.

21:29:54PM

–

21:34:01PM

 **Ukraine**

The last 10 minutes had gone by without even a hitch and the motorcade were preparing to enter Kyiv International Airport. Jack had obviously made it through undetected and he was surprised he had managed to keep his emotions in check – the moment he had seen Surarov with his own eyes, his anger had risen internally. Of all the people that Jack had ever gone up against, 5 people stood out as the ones he despised with a huge passion... Victor Drazen, Nina Myers, Charles Logan, Cheng Zhi and Yuri Suvarov. Drazen mainly for his crimes against Serbia but also for his attempts to destroy Bauer. Myers obviously for killing Teri and nearly killing Kim. Logan not just for ordering the death of his close friend President Palmer and for playing a role in the Sentox conspiracy but also for his actions in trying to help cover up the Russian's role in the murder of Omar Hassan. Zhi for kidnapping him, nearly destroying Audrey mentally and then playing a role in her death in London. And Suvarov for his role in the New York events and personally ordering for the death of Renee Walker, the one thing that pushed Jack over the edge and ultimately led to where he was now.

And of all of those, Suvarov was the only one still alive; yes, Logan was unfortunately alive as well but a suicide attempt when the Russian's involvement in the events in New York had left him with severe brain damage, so in a sense, he wasn't ALIVE alive. But back to the Russian President and more-over, Jack thought, "just what the hell is he doing here?". All he knew was that Suvarov hadn't been removed from office following the revelation of the New York events and in fact went on to win another term as President. The motorcade then started back up and headed into the airport proper, going the long way around towards what appeared to be a series of hangers on the far side of the airport. It came to a stop inside one and as the final motorcycles entered the hanger, the shutters began to fall and agents emerged from the limos. The main agent from the car park walked to the front as the motorcyclists got off. "The Russian government would like to thank you for your sterling efforts.. because of you, our passenger is safe.." he spoke in Russian and the main limo door opened as Suvarov emerged. Murmurs of shock and surprise were heard among most of the drivers, whilst Jack simply eyed him with hatred and disgust through the sunglasses he was wearing.

As Suvarov headed towards a door, completely surrounded by agents, the main agent spoke to the drivers again. "As soon as Suvarov is out of the country, I will release you from your contracts.." he explained as the shutters began to rise. "But in the meantime, I have a warning for each and every one of you.. be on your guard. Jack Bauer is in the city of Kiev – his reasons for being here are unknown but still, we do not want to risk anything.." he added before turning on his heel and going through the open door. The drivers exchanged looks of concern and one came up behind Jack unaware of his true identity. "If Bauer finds out Surarov is here.." he said in Russian suddenly and Jack immediately turned his head in surprise. "I'm sure he won't.." he said quickly, sitting on his motorcycle. This was not good – the Russians now knew he was in Kiev and he couldn't just make a run for it as people would spot him, with or without the motorcycle uniform. He needed to make a distraction long enough for him to find the passenger jet and without people noticing. "Wait a minute.." he said suddenly – he had an idea. It was a long shot but he had to get to Surarov! Do something that would send the Russian on the airport premises into an utter frenzy, then sneak away and find the passenger flight. It was so crazy it might just work. He got up to head towards the door Surarov had gone through, when a voice called out to him. "Wait a minute!" Jack heard and turned around. "We were told to wait here.." another driver said with confusion. Jack smirked.

"You can.." he said before turning and leaving, as the drivers simply stood in confusion. As soon as he was out of their sight, Jack instantly started to look around for any signs of Russian agents – there were none. He then headed towards the end of the corridor and stuck his head around the end corner, which revealed both a desk and several security guards. He needed to get them out the way and as he moved himself out of immediate sight, he noticed a fire alarm on the adjacent wall. He had a plan. Meanwhile, in an unidentified area of the airport, Surarov was escorted into a large empty waiting area. "Your helicopter will arrive within the next 25 minutes, Mr President. However, take-off may be delayed.." the main agent explained. The Russian President rose an eyebrow. "Why is that?" he asked coldly. The agent was about to reply when there was a loud droning sound throughout the airport. "That's the fire alarm!" he exclaimed and instantly walked over towards a phone attached to the wall. Picking it up, he typed in the number 259 and waited. The dial tone could just about be heard and it continued to ring for a few seconds until finally, it was picked up. " _YES?_ " came a voice. "What's going on? Why's the fire alarm blaring?" the agent demanded to know.

" _Do not worry, sir.._ it's just a test, it will stop in a few minutes.." the guard on the other end said, staring at the barrel of a gun held by Jack. The dead bodies of the other guards lay strewn around him, as well as the bodies of the other drivers who had come running to investigate the cause of the alarm. " _You're sure?_ " the agent asked further. "I'm sure.. I'll let you know if anything else happens.." the guard said before promptly hanging up. "Where do you store your weapons?" Jack ordered. The agent gave a face that suggested he was nuts. "Don't play the fool with me, I'm giving you a chance to live! WHERE do you store the weapons?" the American pushed further for an answer. Finally giving in, he indicated to the backroom and Jack smiled before grabbing the guard and forcing him head-first onto the desk, knocking him out. He walked to the backroom door and opened it, revealing quite a number of weapons including battle-gear, bulletproof vests, machine guns and even two rocket-launchers. "Perfect..." he said to himself, as the fire alarm continued to drone.

In the waiting area, the fire alarm was still droning on until it stopped all of a sudden. "Finally!" a few agents muttered and the main agent rolled his eyes. After waiting a few seconds to see if it might turn back on again, he turned back to the President. "Sorry about that, sir.." he said. Surarov dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "Now what's this about the helicopter flight being delayed?" he asked. "It's precaution, sir.. don't ask me how why but there are rumours going around that Ukraine rebels have figured out you're in the country.." the agent replied. Suvarov rose an eyebrow in shock. "How could the rebels have found out? This trip was made in so much secrecy that even my Chief of Staff didn't know I was coming here!" he exclaimed. The agent shook his head. "I honestly have no idea, sir.. but that's the reason for the delay. We're currently plotting the areas where rebels are most likely to strike and planning the route home around that" he said. The Russian President nodded – made plenty of sense to do that, he thought.

–

21:40:19PM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

A door on a vent leading into the cargo area began to shake before finally falling off, revealing a hole in the wall – from it emerged Belcheck, followed by Chloe and then Kurt. All three let out huge breathes, thankful this part of the plane was pressurized. "Ok, now what?" Kurt asked, looking at the Serb. "I should think we're beyond the restaurant area – we might not be that far from the avionics bay" Belcheck replied, looking around on the roof of the area. Kurt nodded. "What are you doing?" Chloe was next to ask. "Looking for a floor panel.. if there is one and there's no-one about, we can hide in the avionics bay.." the Serb explained. "But I'm confused.. I mean, surely staying down here would be better?" she replied. Belcheck looked at her. "That's true.. but sooner or later, they'll realize we're right here. They'll try and draw us out and they'll be waiting, so we need to get out of here soon.." he insisted. Chloe gave a look that suggested she was unsure but she finally nodded. As Kurt replaced the open vent door, he looked at the two. "When will we make our move?" he asked. "Within the next 30 minutes, but it depends on whether there is a floor panel or not." the Serb explained.

Kurt was about to nod in agreement but then heard what seemed like muffled screams, something that Chloe and Belcheck also heard. Little did they know that just two decks above them, Hermann was aggressively squeezing Gabrielle's injured shoulder which was making her scream in utter pain. "WHERE. IS. O'BRIAN? I'M NOT GOING TO ASK AGAIN!" the German roared – but in spite of facing probably the most pain she'd been in in her life, the young woman just would not break, letting her pain speak instead. Finally, Lightspeed had enough. "FOR GODS SAKE, LEAVE HER ALONE! CAN'T YOU SEE SHE KNOWS NOTHING?!" he yelled, forcing himself out of his chair. But the moment he finished talking, he found Hermann launching himself at him and he found himself staring down the barrel of the German's gun. "I've been patient with you so far.. but my patience is wearing thin. Why don't you let me get on with what I'm doing and you get back to flying this thing?" he said in a low, dark voice. Any other person may have relented against the German, but Lightspeed had no intention of letting Hermann walk all over him even though he had the gun.

"Why don't you make me? Can't you see this poor girl knows nothing? What is effectively torturing her when she knows nothing going to achieve?" the flight engineer retorted. Hermann glared at him for quite a few seconds but then gave a smirk. "You're a gutsy guy, I'll give you that.." he said, using his free arm to unlock the cabin door and push it open. He indicated for Lightspeed to walk outside – curious at why the German wanted him to do that, he walked outside. Hermann then moved back towards the main controls and grabbed the radio. "Hello, ladies and gentlemen.." he spoke into it and his voice was heard throughout the plane, with even Chloe, Belcheck and Kurt just managing to hear it. Gabrielle, wet mascara going down her eyes, watched in fright as Hermann bought his gun up to face outside the cockpit. "If you will recall, when I took control of this flight, I made a vow not to harm any of you unless it is absolutely necessary." he further said and Lightspeed stopped moving, puzzled. "Well, I'm afraid I must break that – your flight engineer has tried to prevent me from finding the very people who stand between me killing you and me not killing you. What is about to happen is not just a message to you, but to those currently hiding from my men.." he said coldly and realization dawned on Lightspeed, who turned around to face Hermann just as the German fired three shots into him, the gunfire picked up by the radio.

In the cargo area, the threesome looked at each other with horror on their faces, before hearing Hermann over the intercom. " _To those currently hiding from me, this is your first and last warning – surrender yourself or more will die!_ " he said. Hanging up the radio, the German turned to speak with Captain Black. "I know what you're thinking, Captain. Was that necessary?" he said. Black looked up at him, pure anger in his eyes. "You killed an unarmed man, just because he got in your way! And for what cause? You don't even know if there are people hiding away from you, you've just got one man's word to go on it!" he said angrily. "Oh, I know there are people hiding from me! I don't want to have to kill more people but the fact is.. I have a job to do and I'll kill anyone who gets in my way" Hermann said, before turning towards the cockpit door, walking to in front of it and closing it, fully aware of the screams from the terrified passengers.

–

21:43:23PM

 **Ukraine**

Carefully smashing the window near the security guard, Jack picked up one of the rocket-launchers and positioned it so that it was facing outside. He was now wearing full battle gear including bulletproof armour on his legs and arms, a helmet and large boots. "Here goes nothing.." he said as he pulled back on the trigger. A rocket launched out of the launcher and straight into a parked truck, which instantly exploded. Carefully, he moved the launcher to the right so it was now angled left and fired another. Instantly dropping it, he picked up several machine guns and moved over to the desk, pressing down on a red button. A loud siren started to blare out across the area, again heard by Suvarov and his guards. "Now what?" the President asked and an agent started to listen carefully. His eyes widened. "THERE'S AN ARMED HOSTILE ON SITE!" he yelled as loud as he could, trying to be heard over the alarm. The main agent's eyes widened. What if it was Bauer? "You, you and you, STAY HERE! EVERYONE ELSE, WITH ME!" he yelled, yelling into his radio with the last order.

Everyone but three other agents instantly ran out of the room, whilst armed soldiers jumped off of two parked trucks hidden outside and through double doors into the hanger, joining the agents. As they ran through a long corridor, they had no idea that hidden in a room was Jack, waiting for them to pass by. He now had a clear path to Suvarov. As soon as they were clear, he charged out of the room and down the corridor.. but as he came closer and closer to them, he saw a truck park up outside. More soldiers! "Damn it!" he swore under his breath and he zoomed around the corner, out of sight. He had to get rid of this lot of soldiers. They finally came through and Jack picked up a grenade he had stashed on his body, pulled the pin out and threw it against the wall nearest the doors. With a loud boom, the wall caved in and the soldiers looked back just in time to see a masked man opening fire on them. Inside the waiting area, Suvarov and the three agents heard all the commotion with shock and worry on their faces.

Slowly walking forward, Jack fired both machine guns and pushing the startled soldiers further and further back. Suddenly... BOOM! The whole storage room went up in a big explosion, the result of which went crashing onto the soldiers. Convinced there were dead or wouldn't get in his way, Jack dropped one of the guns and went back around the corner. He saw a Russian agent open a door to see the commotion and promptly slammed his machine gun butt into him, sending him flying into the door-frame and sending the door flying open. Before he had even entered through the door-frame, he fired from right to left, managing to kill one agent instantly. Another charged up from the sofa, having forced Suvarov to the ground, only to be knocked back by the butt of the machine gun. Suvarov looked up, only to find himself looking down the barrel of the gun. His eyes widened in shock. "NO, please! Don't shoot!" the normally cold President screamed, fearful for his life. Jack simply stared at him. "If I wanted to shoot you, Suvarov..." he spoke, but in English and pulling off his helmet. "...I would have done it by now.." he added, pulling away the helmet so that the Russian could see him. Suvarov's jaw dropped. "Bauer..." he whispered. Jack simply glared down at him before noticing the only agent still alive getting back on his feet and rubbing his head. He knew what he needed to do next.

21:46:54PM

–

16:50:04PM

 **Washington DC**

The sun was starting to set over the city and a few people were standing on the National Mall, admiring the scene and the beautiful sky. Also on the Mall, not too far from the flags surrounding the Washington Monument, was a lone man looking up at the sky through binoculars – most people would have thought the guy crazy for watching a sunset through binoculars but they had no idea that just over 3 hours ago, this man had shot down and killed the Vice-President, though they also had no idea he was even dead as President Heller had ordered his death be concealed from the public. And now this man was making his next move. Scanning the skies, he suddenly stopped when he saw something at his left; carefully scanning, his eyes rose and he gave a grim smile as he lowered the binoculars. He noticed the people around him looking up at where he had been looking and smiling.

Finally, it came into view, its presence made now by the sound of its four engines – Air Force One. As it flew past on its way to the Ronald Reagan National Airport, the man reached into his pocket for his page. He typed on it, "Air Force One about to land. Awaiting the arrival of Statewide Cell" and sent the message.

–

 **Ukraine**

Jack watched grimly as the agent, with the machine gun pointing at the back of his head, tied up Suvarov's hands and legs with duct tape before using a strip to cover his mouth. "Good, now get him up!" Jack ordered the agent, who hauled the Russian President to his legs. "Take off his shoes" came the next order and the agent stared at him in confusion. "NOW!" Jack almost yelled. The agent did as was told and took off the President's shoes – as one was forced off, a small square tracker fell out of it. Jack picked it up and smirked. "Put them back on!" he told the agent, who put the shoes back on the President. "Why are you doing this? Why not just kill him?" the agent asked, confused as to why he was being to do such petty acts. "Because... Kuzmin.." Jack said, taking a moment to look at the agent's jacket so he could read his name. "..I'm not here to kill the President. Believe me, I would love to kill him but that is not why I'm here. Move, both of you!" he added, indicating with his gun for both of them to move to the wall. Taking a hold of Suvarov's jacket, Kuzmin moved towards the wall. Jack headed to a small closet which was on the right of the room and forced open the door. "Put the President in there" he ordered Kuzmin, who forced Suvarov inside a bit roughly. As soon as he was in, Jack closed the door, throwing something inside and locked it, before giving the tracker to the young agent.

"Put that in your shoe..." he ordered him and the agent complied. "What do you plan to get from this?" Kuzmin asked. Jack glared him down and gave a dark smile. "You'll see... get outside now!" he replied. Kuzmin reluctantly left the area and they headed out through the double-doors, into the dark. "What now? What did you throw in the closet?" the Russian demanded to know as they walked away from the buildings. "Shut up a minute.. I'll explain everything.." Jack hissed as the two walked left. In front of them was a helicopter. "Get on the helicopter!" the American ordered and the Russian opened up the hatch to it, getting in. "If you must know, you're a distraction. I have a plane to catch and you're going to lure the Russian's attention, Mr President.." Jack finally explained, adding on the Russian title. Kuzmin looked at him. "How? I'm not the President.." he said in confusion. Jack simply took the machine gun and fired a shot into the helicopter's radio. "You are now.. that tracker in your shoe, when the Russians get wind of it, they'll think the President is flying back to Russia and I'll be out of the country, safe from all of you!" he added, with smugness in his tone.

Kuzmin simply looked at him as realization dawned. "And just so I know you'll stay in the air, the President is currently sitting right next to a pile of C-4. If I don't see or hear you flying away from the airport or following my instructions, the C-4 goes up.." Jack added. Kuzmin's eyes widened and he turned away, visibly shaking. "I suggest you get to it.." the American added as he walked away from the helicopter. He heard the chopper start up as he looked at his watch – 21:54 almost. He had no time to waste, so he had a look in the open chopper for a vehicle and then smiled. Finally, the helicopter was at take-off speed and Kuzman started to lift the helicopter off the ground when he then saw a strange sight – Bauer came flying out of the hangar, now driving an airport luggage towing truck which was complete with two trailers. As Jack took the truck to the highest speed possible, he knew even the slightest slip-up and his chances of getting on that plane were non-existent.

On the other side of the airport, standing at the end of a runway was an Embraer 195 jet, almost ready for take-off. It was Ukraine International Airlines Flight 78. In the cockpit, the two pilots received their instructions. " _Flight 78, you are cleared for take-off. You may leave at your own discretion – stay safe and enjoy Warsaw!_ " the controller said over the intercom. "Much appreciated, control. We shall hopefully see you tomorrow!" the Captain of the flight replied and pressed several buttons on the controls. "Give the engines another minute to speed up and we'll be on our way.." he told his first officer, who nodded. A mile or so away, meanwhile, Jack was driving at the maximum speed the luggage truck could give him – admittedly, it was a bit strange driving it, but he needed to be stealthy and it was the only vehicle the hanger had in there. He would have taken a car or truck, but he didn't mind using this too much. He kept his eyes open for anything that looked like an Embraer 195 – nothing so far. It couldn't be too far away. Finally, the jet began to move forwards... just as Jack spotted it. The moment he spotted it, he swerved in its direction – he may have been too late to get into the cargo hold but he still had a chance with the back landing gear.

As he got closer and closer, Jack knew he would have to jump and time the jump to absolute perfection. The plane continued to rattle down the runway, oblivious to the American renegade pursuing it at great speed – finally, the truck moved onto the same runway and edged closer and closer to the back landing gear. The front wheel left the runway and Jack took the chance to get further under the plane, before finally the back wheels left the tarmac. It was now or never, Jack thought, as he finally jumped. His left arm grabbed the landing gear and then his right arm, though only just considering he was still clutching the machine gun; the truck flipped over several times and screeched along the tarmac as Jack climbed into the plane. He crawled out of the way of the landing gear as he finally came into the plane and locked tightly. He had made it. But the danger wasn't over yet – the Russians would soon realize he was on a flight leaving the airport and they'd send every fighter jet possible after him. With this in mind, he crawled through the belly of the plane towards the back – he had to find a way into the cargo area.

–

21:58:10PM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

In the depths of the North Atlantic, the Yuri Kolgorskiy was moving at a fairly brisk pace but almost silently. Inside, General Benediktov was on the phone, the same phone he had used over three hours ago – the dial tone continued to ring until finally it got through. " ** _YES?!_** " a distorted voice spoke, the same one the Russian General had heard 3 hours previously. "I have news.." he said simply. " ** _BE QUICK, GENERAL – I DON'T HAVE A LOT OF TIME!_** " the voice replied. "Don't worry, the news is brief – we have received confirmation. Air Force One has landed in Washington DC.." Benediktov said. An almost relieved sound was heard on the other end. " ** _THANK YOU, GENERAL! ANY WORD ON STATEWIDE CELL?_** " the voice asked. "Nothing yet – the President appears to be considering but there won't be any word for another hour at least. Don't worry, everything is going as planned – you'll get your revenge, the Presidency won't see what's coming!" Benediktov insisted. There was another sigh. " ** _IT'S... NOT JUST THE PRESIDENCY, GENERAL. I KNOW YOU DISPATCHED EASTERN CELL TO KILL HIM BUT I'M ALSO AFTER REVENGE AGAINST JACK BAUER! NO DISRESPECT TO YOUR GROUND FORCES BUT THEY WON'T KILL BAUER.. LISTEN, I'VE GOT TO GO. I'LL CONTACT YOU SOON.._** " the voice replied, sound apologetic as it finished, before hanging up.

–

16:59:10PM

 **America**

On the other end of the call, the person hung up the phone and gave a sigh of relief as he put his face against the wall next to the phone. "You know... for someone who never got any phone calls about 3 months ago, you seem to have gotten quite a few recently!" someone said and the person looked up at the prison guard. "What can I say... I've suddenly gotten popular.." he half-smirked. The guard smiled. "Yeah, well.. I hope that's the end of them for today. The prison warden can only know so much and one more phone call would expose our deal.." he said, suddenly stern. The man nodded. "Don't worry, that is the last of them.." he confirmed."And one more thing.. this Bauer.. who is he and why do you want revenge?" he asked. The unknown man sighed angrily. "He ruined my family.. he destroyed my father's career because he couldn't keep his mouth shut and then he killed him. In cold blood.." he explained. The guard rose an eyebrow. "Blimey.." he said. The man looked up. "I hope you're not backing out of this.." he glared. "NO NO! I'm still in, 100%!" he said before turning his head around – another prison guard came into view.

"Come on, #658! Back to your cell!" he suddenly ordered, grabbing the unknown man, now revealed as a prisoner, by the handcuffs. As they rounded a corner and out of immediate sight, the prisoner turned to face the guard. "That was close.." he muttered and the guard nodded. Finally, they stopped in front of a cell. "I'll set off the plan when the time is right.. be ready.." the guard explained as he opened the door and the prisoner walked in. They exchanged a nod before the door was locked shut. The prisoner smirked again and he looked at his small collection of photos, the only thing he was allowed to have in his cell. Among them was a photo of Christopher Henderson. "Bauer's still alive.. but I have no doubt he'll be on American soil soon. Don't worry, Dad, you will be avenged or my name is not Jeremy Henderson!" the man, now known as Henderson, vowed.

–

22:00:00PM

 **Tricked you, didn't I? You all thought it was going to be Tony. But I'm trying to follow the exact 24 timeline (which, fair enough, is fairly confusing) and the bonus scene with Tony in prison accessible on the 24: Live Another Day DVD is actually set 30 months after London. Disappointing, but hey, that's the timeline for you.**


	7. 7: 10pm - 11pm (EST)

7: 10pm – 11pm (EST):

 **Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.**

Right, before I start off guys, a few things I would like to clear up:

1\. Keep the reviews coming and enjoy the story!

2\. It was during the writing of this chapter that I discovered there was a sanctioned comic-book series (as in considered canon) of 24 which served as a prelude to Live Another Day. Within that, I learnt that Jack had been spending the months prior to London IN THE UKRAINE , which contradicts what I said within the first few chapters in that Jack knew nothing about the country - however, I also learnt that the Ukraine city Jack had been living in was a coastal city to the South East of the country. In this story, as you know, Jack starts off somewhere in the North-West and makes his way to the central; so to get around the comic-book series, I'm declaring that the coastal city was the only part of the country Jack was in prior to London so in a sense, he hasn't really been in the Ukraine. Hope that makes sense.

3\. I know some of my reviews have been people asking me to bring Audrey back for this story. Now, I would like to, but... I feel to do so would be a cop-out. Yes, Jack faked his death at the end of Day 4 and only he saw Tony "die" in Day 5 (and I admit I was surprised by his return in Day 7), but very few people had knowledge of this. Audrey's death was seen and confirmed by a lot of people so it would seen implausible to bring her back from the dead. HOWEVER, that does not mean I'm ruling anything out - just keep reading, you never know what may happen.

Matt

* * *

 **The following takes place between 10pm and 11pm, European Standard Time:**

–

17:00:01PM

 **Washington DC**

Standing at the end of a runway at the Ronald Reagan National Airport was Air Force One – and emerging from it was President Heller followed by MI-5 agent McKaye. "Mr President.." a man called as he came up the plane stairs. Heller smiled. "Brian.." he said as he shook hands with the man. "Brian, this is Andrew McKaye of MI-5. He's with me. McKaye, this is my National Security Advisor, Brian Baylis.." Heller introduced as McKaye shook the hands of the Advisor. Baylis had actually missed out on the trip to London owing to a chest infection, but now he was fully healthy. "Any news on the release of the prisoners?" McKaye asked as the three headed down the stairs. "Yes, there is – after the phone calls you made, Mr President, all the prisons got back in touch with the White House. They have agreed to have the selected prisoners ready for release within the hour" Baylis confirmed as they entered a limousine.

"Really? They agreed just like that?" McKaye asked, surprised. He had expected there to be some opposition when the President had made his phone calls. "Seems whatever you told them, Mr President, swayed them" Baylis replied, looking at Heller. However, he gave a blank expression. "Sorry, what did I tell who?" he asked. Baylis frowned and looked at McKaye. "You contacted various prisons, Mr President. Got them to release certain prisoners. The hijacking.." the Brit replied with a face of worry. "OH! Yes, of course.. I'm sorry. That's right.." Heller said suddenly, remembering. Baylis gave a look of concern at McKaye, who shook his head. "He's fine.." he mouthed, trying to put the National Security Advisor at ease. Though he gave a look of suspicion, he finally sat back. "And what about the withdrawal of US forces in Europe? I mean, military we can withdraw, but there are a number of covert agents in operation." he pointed out, hoping Heller would understand. There was several seconds of silence before the President replied. "Withdraw the military as soon as you can.. the covert agents, we'll just have to hope for the best.." he said. Internally, both McKaye and Baylis breathed sighs of relief.

"My memory may be fading, gentlemen, but I'm still capable of making choices and of remembering what has been said and agreed.." he added suddenly, clearly unhappy they thought that moment was an instance of him losing his mind. As the limo started to move away from the presidential plane, McKaye started to ask himself mentally – will the President even make it to tomorrow morning before it becomes clear he can't carry on in his position?

–

22:03:01PM

 **North Atlantic Sea**

On the bottom deck of Flight 681, the area just in front of the restaurant with the duty-free shop was quiet; only the sound of the engines could be heard. But because there was no-one in that immediate area, no-one saw a panel on the floor slowly move upwards and a pair of eyes scanning the entire surrounding area. After a few seconds, the panel was gradually lowered back onto the floor. "The coast is clear.." Belcheck said as he lowered himself back down into the cargo area. "..but we'll have to be quick" he added, looking at both Chloe and Kurt. "How are we going to do this?" Kurt asked. The Serb looked up at the panel. "I think we can all make it through there, but whoever goes first will have to act as a lookout. In case someone comes down and spots us" he said. There were a few seconds of silence between the trio. "I'll go first, keep lookout.." Kurt volunteered. Chloe looked at him. "You sure?" she asked, worried. "Yeah.. I'm sure. Besides, you two need each other a lot more.." Kurt replied, insistent. Chloe and Belcheck exchanged a look. "If you're sure.." the Serb said, grim-faced. Kurt nodded. "Ok.. good luck" Chloe said as Belcheck moved out of the way and allowed the young American to take his place underneath the floor panel.

As soon as he was in position, Kurt lifted up the floor panel with his hand and much like Belcheck had done, scanned the whole area to ensure he wouldn't be spotted. Confident no-one had seen him, he lifted the panel away and eased himself onto the deck floor. He quickly moved to the left of the open panel where he could see everything easily. "Ok, you can come up.." he said quietly and after a few seconds, Chloe started to make her way through the hole in the floor. Kurt moved to help her up and finally, she made it through the gap. She then stopped and knelt down so she could speak to Belcheck. "I can see the avionics bay.. it's right in front of the stairs.." she said quietly. The Serb nodded and he started to make his own way up, easing onto the deck floor. He looked in the direction where Chloe said the avionics were positioned and whilst Kurt replaced the floor panel, Belcheck looked up the stairs from a small gap in the stair railings. He couldn't see much but he didn't see any gun-men either.

He was about to shout "We're clear.." when he heard several voices and then the sound of footsteps. He just about saw two gun-men heading towards the stairs and turned to face the two Americans. "Back in the cargo area!" he hissed quietly. Chloe was about to jump back inside when she was suddenly pushed straight into the Serb. "Get behind the stairs – I'll cover you!" Kurt insisted as the legs of the two gun-men came into view. Noticing, he motioned with his hands for Chloe and Belcheck to hide – they finally got the message and hide behind several shelves positioned just in front of the back of the stairs whilst Kurt got ready to jump. The exact moment the feet of one of the gun-men touched the ground, he jumped into the bay, the sound of which got the attention of the two men. "What was that?" one asked in Albanian before they suddenly noticed the hole in the ground. They walked over towards the open floor panel and the Albanian looked down. "Hold me.." he told the other gun-men as he started to lower his top half of the body, with machine gun, in hand, into the cargo bay. There were quite a few seconds of silence before he spoke again. "There's nothing down.." he said until he was suddenly pulled down and forced down the mountain of luggage whilst Kurt grabbed his machine gun and fired upwards through the gap in the floor – bullets went straight into the gun-man's head and he fell backwards, instantly dead.

Up in the cockpit, Hermann heard the bullets firing and he grabbed his radio. "AVRAM!" he yelled into it quickly. " _I HEARD! I'LL INVESTIGATE!_ " he replied back almost just as quickly. Throughout the plane, gun-men started to run towards the front of the plane with guns in hand. In the cargo bay, Kurt threw himself at the Albanian and the two started to wrestle at the bottom of the luggage mountain. Chloe and Belcheck started to move towards the front of the stairs in the commotion and the Serb looked up to see whether there was anyone in his eyesight coming towards the stairs – there weren't. "NOW!" he said and the two ran towards the avionics bay, just about managing to get the door open just as they heard the pounding of footsteps and many yells approaching the stairs. They made it inside the bay and slammed the door just as the gun-men charged down the stairs. Whilst they couldn't see anything, they held several yells and then a machine gun being fired – they exchanged a look of worry, had Kurt just been killed? Then they heard another yell, something that Chloe didn't understand but Belcheck. "Wait..." he said, as he listened to a conversation. "They've found the dead gun-men.. they're checking the cargo bay.." he said, translating. "What about Kurt?" Chloe asked, biting her lip. Belcheck continued to listen. "They've found a body.. it's one of the gun-men... there's no-one else in the bay!" he said, making several second gaps between speaking.

Chloe's face dropped in surprise. "Kurt's not in there?" she asked. The Serb shushed her, continuing to listen. "They're rechecking.. yeah, the gun-man's the only one in there!" he confirmed. The American recoiled, reeling in shock. "Then... where's Kurt?" she asked. Little did they, or the gun-men know, that Kurt was back in the belly of the plane, heading back towards the landing gear. He was now on his own but at least safe in the knowledge that the two strangers being relentlessly chased by the hijackers were somewhere a lot more safer. As he opened the hatch to the area behind the restaurant, however, he knew full well that whilst he was safe, he wouldn't be for much longer – he needed a way back into the plane cabin and that meant somehow retaking the plane.

–

22:08:10PM

 **Ukraine Airspace**

At the same time, after a lot of crawling through the belly of the Embraer jet, Jack finally forced his way into the cargo area for Flight 78; much to his relief, there was not much cargo and luggage which meant the flight wasn't that packed. He eased his way onto a pile of suitcases, remembering to pick up the machine gun. He slowly made his way to the back of the cargo area, looking around on the roof of it for a floor panel that would lead into the cabin. About three quarters of the way through, he found it. At the very front of the plane, in the cockpit, the captain and first officer exchanged a bit of banter until their radio buzzed to life. " _Flight 78, this is Kiev International Airport. Come in_ " the voice said – much to the surprise of the captain, it was the control tower of the airport they had just left. The first officer picked up the radio. "Airport Control, this is Flight 78. Is everything ok?" he asked. " _No.. we are ordering you to return to the airport effective immediately!_ " the tower controller replied.

There were a few seconds of silence before the shocked first officer finally spoke. "Sir, we're already well on the way to Warsaw... why do we need to land?" he asked. " _We have reason to believe there is a renegade on your plane..._ a threat to the security of your passengers.. you must return immediately!" the controller insisted. The first officer looked at his captain who immediately nodded. "Very well, tower... we will be back as soon as possible, out" he said, putting the radio down. "Thank god we haven't turned the seatbelt button off yet.." the captain muttered as he picked up the phone that connected the cockpit with the cabin intercom. He decided not to tell the passengers the true reason why they were about to turn around, in case the so-called "security threat" got scared and did something stupid. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. _I regret to inform you we have developed a technical fault with the plane and we will have to fly back to the airport. I can only offer my deepest apologies for this development.._ " he said, as his message was heard throughout the plane. And by Jack.

"Damn it.." he muttered – he had a feeling there was no technical fault and that the Russians had found out he was on this flight. He now had no choice; he would have to hijack the plane and keep it en-route to Warsaw. Turning the machine gun so the butt was now facing upwards, he pushed it up with a lot of force into the floor panel. A slight thump sound was made and the panel bounced up slightly. He then did it again. And again. And again. And in the cabin, a flight attendant moving to sit down noticed it. "Hang on a second.." she told another attendant and she walked towards the moving panel. Crouching down, she lifted up a handle located at the bottom of the panel and lifted up the whole thing.. only to be instantly slammed backwards by the butt of a machine gun. Throwing the machine gun into the cabin, Jack hauled himself up and out of the cargo area. Grabbing the gun, he noticed the attendant struggling to her feet; in what was effectively a split-second choice, he grabbed her by the head and forced her into a headlock with his gun pointing at her. He didn't want to have to do this but he had to present himself as serious. Now with his hostage, he stormed forward into the cabin proper and through the array of passengers who had been attracted by the screams from the attendant. "MOVE OUT THE WAY! MOVE OUT THE WAY!" Jack yelled as he stormed down the cabin, pointing his gun at anyone thinking of getting in his way.

In the cockpit, the pilots were about to turn the plane around when they heard the screams. Confused, the pilot picked up his phone that was linked directly to the flight attendant station but in all the panic, it was missed. Jack made his way to just behind the cockpit and pointed his gun at a shocked attendant – he motioned for her to open the door. After a few seconds, the attendant got the message and knocked on the door. "Open the door!" she said in Ukrainian. The first officer moved to get up, but the captain grabbed his hand. "Don't open it.." he said, shaking his head. Finally, fed up with nothing happening, Jack charged forward with his hostage still in a slight head-lock and kicked at the door, sending it flying open; before the captain could even react, Jack was in the cockpit and pointing the machine gun at the both of them. Finally, he released the flight attendant and threw her against the wall. "Keep this plane en-route to Warsaw. NO deviations!" he said sternly, speaking in Ukrainian. The captain slowly nodded, having no choice considering he had a machine gun aimed at his head.

" _Flight 78, what are you doing? We ordered you back to Kiev, why have you not charged course, over?_ " the radio suddenly buzzed. Jack simply pointed his gun at the captain and indicated to him to turn off the radio, which he did. He picked up the phone and looked at the whimpering flight attendant. He felt guilt that he even had to do that but when he had Russians on his tail, all civilities went out the window. "Ladies and gentleman... this is your new pilot speaking.. _contrary to what your captain has said, we are not flying back to Kiev. We are staying en-route to Warsaw. I regret my actions that have led to this..._ but I have no choice – stay calm, nothing will happen to you.." he said, speaking perfect Ukrainian which surprised even him. He threw the phone back onto the controls and closed the cockpit door, slamming his head against it. He really did not want to do this, but as the saying goes, "desperate times call for desperate measures".

22:12:35PM

–

22:16:42PM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

In the depths of the ocean, the Yuri Kolgorskiy was still moving south en-route to the East American coastline. General Benediktov was making his way up the stairs and into the main control room. "Report!" he ordered. Chadli was first to speak. "We're still a good 14 hours away from the East Coast of America but our sensors indicate we're not being tracked.." he said but then he heard the old Russian General chuckle. "That's because no-one knows we're down here.. this submarine can't be tracked by any sort of radar; we could go right past a Navy carrier and they wouldn't even realize!" he explained. Chadli, though surprised and a bit embarrassed he didn't know that, nodded. "What about our comrades, Aralica? Anything on them?" Benediktov asked. "Well, according to our sources, it looks like Airborne Cell has succeeded in their part of the plan – President Heller has given the order for the European prisoners to be released. We don't know exactly WHEN they'll be released but it's hoped it will be within the hour.." the Croatian reported.

"Excellent.." the General replied. "What about Eastern Cell? Have they managed to locate Bauer?" he asked. Aralica frowned; he wasn't looking forward to saying this. "They did have him, but he escaped... from the last report they made, they said he was somewhere in the city of Kiev, sir.." he explained. Benediktov's eyes rose in surprise. "How could they lose him if they knew where he was?" he questioned. Aralica shook his head to indicate he had no idea. The General sighed in frustration. "Very well.." he said as he felt his pager vibrating in his pocket – pulling it out, he read the message "Expecting report – phone me on the known number. MD". "Carry on, men.. Report to me if you get ANYTHING relating to our mission.." he said, turning around to head back down the stairs. "Yes, sir!" all three men at the controls replied. Benediktov walked down the metal stairs and opened a door on the left; inside was an office-space where there was a phone on the desk. Closing and locking the door so he wouldn't be disturbed, the General picked up the phone and dialled in a number. The dial tone lasted for about 4 seconds before it was finally picked up. " **Hello..** " a female Serb-accented voice said. "Milena, it's Benediktov..." the General said. " **Ah, General! I require an update..** " the voice, only known as Milena, replied. Benediktov rose an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, Milena, but I'm confused – haven't you got radio capability?" he enquired. There was a long sigh on the other end of the phone. " **I do.. but as it is, the police are close to finding me! I'm switching location every hour to throw them off the scent but even tuning a radio into an intelligence agency could expose my location..** " Milena explained.

"Well, I guess that's fair enough.." the General understood. " **Indeed.. I mean, the police finding probably the most feared Serbian mobster in the world would be the biggest arrest of the century! Imagine the headlines..** " replied the female Serb quite forcefully. "Yes.. ok, long story short – Airborne Cell has partially succeeded with their plan as the President has ordered for the release of the prisoners. Downside is we don't know WHEN, but it's rumoured to be within the next hour.." Benediktov explained, relaying what Aralica had told him. " **I see.. is that all to report?** " Milena pushed for an answer. Benediktov wanted to tell her about Eastern Cell but ultimately decided not to – Milena Dimitrijevic, as she had said, was one of the most feared Serbian mobsters in not just Europe but the whole world as well. Many had placed her up there with Victor Drazen for her crimes and whilst the General was not scared of most things, Dimitrijevic was not someone to get on the wrong side of. "Yes.. we have not heard from Eastern Cell which means they are probably hunting their target.." he quickly said – whilst lying may not be a good option in the long run, it's better than trying to tell the person behind the A.F.E what she did not want to hear.

" **Very well.. have the missiles been switched to remote launchers?** " she asked. "Yes, they have. As soon as the submarine reaches land, I will meet with you - we will be able to attack DC and they won't even know I was not on-board the submarine." the General declared. " **Excellent news.. I shall meet you tomorrow morning, General** " the Serb accepted his proposal. "Thank you – anyhow, I have to go. Good luck evading the police.." Benediktov said before hanging up the phone. This was exciting stuff – as said, Dimitrijevic was the leader of the A.F.E and the person who had planned every step of the attacks against America that had taken place in the last few hours. But he was hoping she would be able to avoid the police or else the risk of the plan unravelling would grow tremendously.

–

22:19:46PM

 **Ukraine**

Several miles outside of Kiev, a normally quiet Ukraine Air Force base was rife with activity as two fighter jets were taxiing onto a runway. Inside both jets, the pilots were receiving their instructions. " _You are to locate Ukraine International Airlines Flight 78. Last known location was a few miles to the south of the Air Base – once contact is made, relay back to us for further instructions!_ " the base's tower controller ordered. As runway vehicles made their way off the tarmac, the first jet took off. As its wheels left the runway, the second jet instantly took off and the two jets made their way into the Ukraine sky in search of the passenger jet.

Several miles to the north and in the sky, meanwhile, Jack was seated in the vacant cockpit, changing the angle of his gun to face either the pilots or the flight attendant every few seconds. Finally, the attendant broke the silence. "You're not Russian, are you?" she asked, speaking in English. Jack looked up in surprise. "Yeah... I'm not.." he replied, speaking in his native tongue. "And you don't look like the standard hijacker either.. so what's your game?" she asked further. The American sighed and looked at the pilots; the captain was keeping an eye on what was outside whilst the first officer was looking at Jack in intervals, fear evident in his eyes. "They understand English?" he asked. The flight attendant shook her head. "You'll have to translate... I'm actually American. You may have heard of me – Jack Bauer.." Jack started. The flight attendant's face was blank but then her eyes widened in shock. "As... in.." she stuttered. All Jack could do was nod. She quickly translated for the pilots and both looked at him with shock on their faces. He turned to face the attendant. "The only reason I've hijacked this plane is because I need to get out of the country.. nearly 12 hours ago, I had surrendered to the Russians in London and they were flying me back to Moscow when we were shot down. Frankly, I can't go into details but I've found out about a possible attack in America.. that's why I'm trying to get out the country. And to make matters worse, for the past few hours, I've had both the Russians AND Ukraine rebels on my tail. That's the only reason I've hijacked this flight. I didn't want to, but if I don't get to Warsaw by midnight, all this will have been for nothing" he fully explained, not revealing some details intentionally.

The attendant nodded as Jack spoke, then translated as simply as she could for the pilots' benefit. They seemed to understand. Little did anyone know, however, that coming up behind the plane at speed were the two fighter jets. As they flew further and further north, one of them saw something. "I think that's it!" he said as they approached a passenger jet. "Flight 78, come in, over..." the pilot said, speaking into his radio. He expected to hear static at first but no noise came from the radio. "Flight 78, come in, over!" the pilot tried again but still nothing. Not even a sound. "Follow my lead.." the other pilot suggested as he moved to the left of the plane. The first pilot realized what he heard and moved to the right. In the cabin, the passengers had calmed down from seeing the strange gun-men but nerves were still showing – one passenger, an elderly gentleman, looked out of his window and saw something strange. "There's a fighter jet flying next to us!" he exclaimed and everyone looked up to see him. "It's a fighter jet!" he repeated and the passengers looked at each other in shock. "There's another one on this side!" a young woman yelled, having seen another jet on her side of the plane. Exclaims of either confusion or shock started to fill the cabin, whilst no-one in the cockpit themselves had noticed the shouts.

"What's going to happen when we reach Warsaw?" the attendant asked, worry in her voice. Jack smiled. "What's your name, sweetheart?" he asked. "Romana.." she replied, a bit uneasy. "I give you my word, Romana, that I'm not going to do anything. As it is, all that worries me right now is whether or not we reach Polish airspace. But after that, I'm gonna let this plane land – I don't care if I'm arrested at the airport, all that matters is if we make it to Polish airsp..." he replied trying to put Romana at ease, but he suddenly stopped mid-word. In the corner of his eye, he saw what appeared to be a Ukraine fighter jet to the right of the plane. "Oh no..." he whispered as he moved out of his seat and checked the left of the plane – another fighter jet appeared and in that instance, eye comment was made between Jack and the jet pilot. Almost instantly, the pilot grabbed his radio. "This is Foxhound #23 calling base. We have found Flight 78 and what's more, JACK BAUER IS ON THE FLIGHT! REPEAT, JACK BAUER IS ON FLIGHT 78, over!" he yelled into it. " _Roger, Foxhound. Right, you have new orders – shoot down that plane at whatever cost, over!_ " the radio instantly replied. Normally, the pilots would have questioned the decision to shoot down a jet with innocent passengers aboard but they had just confirmed seeing Jack Bauer onboard and when it came to him, they had learnt that all regulations went out the window.

"Roger, base! Out!" the pilot confirmed the order and instantly moved the controls back, allowing the whole jet to adjust its speed and fall back. Jack saw what was happening and it dawned what was about to happen. "DAMN IT!" he yelled and he grabbed his gun. "TELL HIM TO GET OUT THE SEAT!" he yelled at Romana, referring to the first officer. The attendant quickly translated and the moment he unbuckled himself, Jack grabbed him by the shirt and threw him out of the way so he could sit down. "Tell everyone to buckle down, things are going to get bumpy!" he yelled at the pilot, as Romana translated. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts _, we're about to hit some turbulence!_ " the captain yelled. In the cabin, people rushed back into their seats and buckled in, whilst the two jets fell back. "Get ready to fire!" one of the pilots yelled as both jets targeted an engine each. Inside the cockpit, whilst he had no idea whereabouts on the plane the jets would be firing, Jack was timing his instincts. "Get ready..." he told everyone in the cockpit. After getting the engines in their targeting system, the two pilots hovered their thumbs above the firing button. After several seconds, they began to press down. "NOW!" Jack yelled as he forced the plane controls downwards and the captain followed suite – just as the jet pilots pressed fully down, the passenger plane instantly moved downwards and out of the firing line. The launched missiles both missed their targets and flew off course as the plane flew at speed towards the ground. "HANG ON TIGHT!" Jack tried to shout as the plane rattled and rolled downwards, followed by the fighter jets.

–

17:25:03PM

 **Washington DC**

Inside the Oval Office were Heller and McKaye, the latter standing and arms crossed. "Ok, thank you.." Baylis said as he walked back in. "Well?" McKaye asked. "White House intel – the prisoner release is almost completed, just some last-minute paperwork that needs to be submitted and then it'll be good to go.." the Advisor confirmed. The MI-5 agent gave a sigh of relief – it was fair to say that both he and the President were worried that the release wouldn't be confirmed. "Well that's one good thing.." Heller replied. "I know this is more confidential for someone like me but what about the withdrawal of forces in Europe?" McKaye enquired. "That's proving to be more of a problem.. as I'm sure you've said, Mr President, withdrawal of the Armed Forces is do-able but it's the covert agents that present more of a worry. As part of their plans, most of them have gone dark and it's simply impossible to get a hold of them" Baylis added, reluctance clear in his voice.

Heller sighed. "And since Hermann seems to know every decision I make, trying to pull the wool over his eyes won't be easy.." he noted. As if on cue, the phone on his desk rang, taking all three men by surprise. Heller moved to pick it up; pressing the speaker button, he placed the receiver on the desk. "Hello?" he asked. " _Ah, Mr President... I apologize profusely for not contacting you sooner._ Some, shall we say situations, came up..." Hermann spoke into the phone. There was silence for a few seconds, before McKaye waded in. "What kind of situations? I hope there hasn't been more bloodshed because we have been following your orders!" he demanded to know. He heard Hermann chuckle slightly. "I know what you're thinking, Mr McKaye.. _my word is probably worth nothing_. _I have tried to avoid more bloodshed, but as it is,_ my hand has been dealt by a very slippery hostage. Let's just say more of my men have been killed than hostages.." the German replied and McKaye's face darkened. "You told us you'd only kill hostages if we failed on your demands.." he hissed. " _That is true.._ but as I say, my hand has been dealt by someone who keeps giving us the slip. And besides, for all you know, I might not have killed anyone. Anyhow, I'd like to talk about my demands.." Hermann insisted, changing subject.

He took the silence as an indication to continue. " _I see that you've acted swiftly with regards to the list of prisoners. I appreciate that_ " he said. "Yes... though there is one thing that's puzzling me about it.." Heller said. The German said nothing, giving another indication that he could continue. " _The prisoners.._ what are you going to do with them once they're released?" the President asked. He heard even more soft chuckling. " _I shouldn't think that's any of your concern, Mr President.._ but since you're asking, we have transport arranged for when they're released" Hermann explained, stopping short of revealing exactly where the arranged transport would be taking them. "Ok... but I hope this isn't some sort of trick, Mr Hermann! You know we don't like being lead down the garden path here.." Heller was about to speak, but Baylis interjected. " _Oh... Mr Brian Baylis_ , National Security Advisor, I presume?" Hermann asked. Baylis looked up at Heller in shock and stuttered as he tried to come up with a reply. "How... how do you know who I am?" he finally gasped. " _Oh come now, Mr Baylis.._ considering I know what the President has been doing, surely you should have realized you're not exempt! I mean, _how did I find out about the death of the Vice-President before you all? Consider that_!" Hermann responded half-bluntly, half-mocking.

"He's pushing us.." McKaye muttered and Heller picked up the phone, turning off the speaker. "Look, we're doing as you asked AND we're trying to pull out the forces in Europe. Is that enough for you?" he asked. " _At the minute, James.._ it is. You've saved a few more lives... but I still expect progress on the forces in Europe _the next time I ring_.." the German said before hanging up.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

As he did, he looked back at a shaken Gabrielle and then at Captain Black. "Your President has pulled through. You two would have been next.." he said, smiling. The door cockpit suddenly knocked and Avram walked in. "Any sign of our slippery hostages?" Hermann asked, looking at the Romanian upside down. "No.. for the trouble she's causing, this O'Brian is quite the character.." he remarked. The German sighed. "Clearly us killing hostages to lure her out isn't working... Just keep searching.." he sighed before waving his hand at the Romanian, indicating he should get out. "Yes, sir.." Avram said, closing the door. As he walked back into the cabin, he motioned another gun-man over. "Are you absolutely sure we've checked everywhere?" he asked. "Yes, sir. Everywhere in the cabin that's air-conditioned.." the gun-man replied, speaking in Bosnian. Avram nodded and then stopped. "Did you check the avionics bay?" he asked. The Bosnian shook his head. "Send Jelavic down there.!" he ordered and the young hijacker left. Avram smirked. "You can run, O'Brian, but you can't hide forever..." he said, a dark smile on his face.

22:29:12PM

–

22:33:44PM

 **Ukraine Airspace**

Jack's tactic of outrunning the fighter jets by flying the passenger plane both low to the ground and then flying high in the sky might have been confusing to witnesses, but it was proving to be effective as following their first attempts to shoot the plane down, the fighters had not been able to get a lock on for a second attempt. But everyone in the cockpit knew full well that they couldn't keep this up until they reached Polish airspace. "How far to the Polish border?" Jack asked, with Romana translating. The captain looked at his monitor before quickly replying. "About 10 or 15 more minutes.. if we make it!" Romana again translated. Jack's insides were turning – it was looking more and more likely they were not going to make it to Warsaw. But of course that didn't mean they were not going to try.

"Hang on..." he said as he started to push the controls downwards. The first officer suddenly started talking and Romana translated. "You'll fly the plane apart if we keep this up!" she said. Jack simply looked behind at the first officer. "I'll fly her apart then..." he said coldly, before pushing back down. The plane started to fly back downwards, moving towards the ground at great speed -in the cabin, people were in their seats but struggling to adjust to the G-Forces of the plane constantly flying towards the ground at such high speeds. As expected, the fighter jets closely followed at equally high speeds, unwilling to lose sight of the plane. Jack started to slowly bring the controls back up, as if to level the plane, when an idea dawned. "I'VE GOT SOMETHING!" he yelled and he pushed the controls back down, keeping the plane in its steep descent. As it got closer to the ground, the fighter pilots could not believe what they were seeing. "What's he doing? He'll never pull out at that rate!" one of them asked the other over the radio. "I don't know.. just stay on his tail, he'll have to pull out! And target the missiles just in case, we may never get another chance" the second pilot insisted as he started to target the right-hand engine.

Inside the cockpit, Romana and the pilots watched Jack with fear in their eyes – they trusted him to an extent but they couldn't understand why they were flying straight at the ground. As the seconds ticked by, the ground finally came into view. 1 second. 2 seconds. 3 seconds. "HANG ON!" Jack finally yelled as he fought to level the plane out – finally, starting with the nose-cone, it levelled out and into horizontal flight, just mere inches from the ground. However, one of the fighter jets found itself locked into its descent. " _COME ON, LEVEL OUT!_ " the pilot of the other jet yelled desperately over the radio. But as the jets neared the ground, the second pilot was forced to pull up, leaving the descending jet to crash straight into the ground, exploding on impact. "Foxhound #23 calling base commander! Tango #55 has been destroyed!" the pilot yelled desperately into his radio as his jet flew back into the sky. " _WHAT? HOW FAR ARE YOU FROM THE POLISH BORDER?_ " the base commander yelled back desperately, his voice almost distorted. The pilot checked his radar. "About 5 to 10 more minutes. we tried shooting it down, but Bauer was onto us! He keeps flying erratically and I can't get a lock-on with the missiles!" he insisted. " _Ok, ok.. just try what you can, Foxhound! But get that plane out of the sky, over!_ " the commander said before static overcame the airwaves.

Inside the cockpit, Jack looked at the captain. He was relieved his plan had worked as he had heard an explosion seconds after lifting the plane back into the sky but he was sure only one of the jets had been destroyed – the concern the plane wouldn't make it to Warsaw still lingered. But then a thought sprang to mind. "What's the nearest airport from our location?" he asked out-loud. Romana looked at the monitor. "In both Poland and the Ukraine, Lublin Airport. A good 2 and a half hours from Warsaw!" she confirmed. "What about landing there? What would our ETA be?" Jack enquired, hope in his voice. "If we carried onto Warsaw... we'd be there in about 30 minutes. Lublin, we could land in the next 15 minutes!" the flight attendant confirmed, smiling as she realized they could yet escape the dogged pursuit from the fighters. Jack sighed in utter relief. "Get on the radio to Lublin Airport, tell them we're in trouble!" he ordered the first officer, who set to work as Romana translated. But outside the plane, the fighter Foxhound #23 had managed to find an opening – he had a missile targeted at the left engine. "Goodbye, Bauer.." the pilot said smugly as he pressed down on the release button.

As Jack kept the controls steady, he couldn't help but hear something slight. He had no way of knowing but he couldn't leave it to hope. "HANG ON!" he yelled and he pushed down on the controls once again. The plane moved downwards once again and the missile missed its target completely. Levelling out the plane, he turned to the first officer who was onto the radio. "When you contact the airport, tell them we need help! I don't think we'll be able to stay up here for long!" he yelled. Romana translated as quickly as she could as she saw Jack turning to face out of the plane windscreen once again. Flight 78 continued to fly through the dark sky as the fighter jet levelled out so that it was just behind the plane horizontally. "Lucky escape.." the pilot said as he once again targeted the left engine of the plane. He pressed down on the release button, only for nothing to happen. He pressed again and nothing happened. "Come on..." he said, gritting his teeth. No matter how many times he pressed, nothing happened. Suddenly, his monitor made a strange noise. "Firing mechanism jammed. Repeat, firing mechanism jammed.." an automated voice said over and over.

"Lublin Tower, this is Ukraine International Airlines Flight 78. We are declaring a situation, _we have an armed fighter jet pursuing us. We are in need of assistance, ETA 15 minutes!_ " the first officer spoke, hoping someone would pick up. Thankfully, a flight navigator did as he motioned someone over. "Flight 78, this is the Tower Controller. What's your status?" the tall man asked. " _All passengers and crew accounted for_ , but we're running out of airspace and fast!" the first officer yelled before a loud explosion shook the whole plane. "WHAT... WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Jack said as he fought for control of the plane. Little did anyone know that the fighter was able to fire the missile and it had detonated just underneath the plane, weakening the underneath and one of the engines. " _Flight 78, do you read?_ " the controller asked quickly. "Yes, we're ok! But I think we might have structural damage! We're coming in fast but we need help!" the first officer quickly responded. "Very well, Flight 78! We're scrambling our fighters, help is on the way!" the controller confirmed, looking out at the airport as two fighters that had been on stand-by were taxied onto one of the runways. "Thank you.." the first officer whispered as the cockpit phone rang. "Yes?" the captain responded. " _CAPTAIN, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!_ The structure of the cabin is collapsing, it won't take it for much longer!" a male flight attendant said as he watched in horror at several rows of seats starting to collapse downwards, whilst luggage fell from the plane's cargo bay.

–

22:41:33PM

 **North Atlantic Sea**

Slowly coming down the stairs towards Flight 681's avionics bay was Jelavic, armed with a heavily loaded machine gun. He was amazed at how O'Brian and her Serb companion had managed to evade Hermann and his men for so long, but if they were in the avionics bay as suggested, then they had nowhere to escape to. Walking to in front of the door, he pressed his ear up against it. On the other side, Chloe was sitting leaned up against the wall to the immediate left of the door. "How long do you think before they find us?" she said. Belcheck looked at her. "Don't think of that. Several places they might think we are.." he assured the former analyst. Convinced he had found them, the Croatian grabbed his pager. "Have found O'Brian. Avionics bay. May need backup" he wrote onto it but as he sent it, he accidentally slammed his gun against the door, which made a loud thump. Chloe instantly scrambled to her feet and walked backwards towards the Serb. "Get behind me.." he said sternly, crackling his fists in readiness.

Jelavic slowly opened the door and looked inside; he couldn't see anyone immediately but he also knew that the whole bay was small and hiding wasn't exactly going to be easy. He walked further inside and looked through the gaps between all the equipment – nothing so far. Still looking, he rose an eyebrow when he could not find anyone; then came a rustle from near the door. Turning around, he didn't see Belcheck coming at him from behind. With a lunge, the Serb forced himself in the Croatian who dropped his gun with a clatter – as the two wrestled, Chloe moved for the gun and pointed it at the two of them. Finally, she saw Jelavic in a good position and moved to fire when a gunshot was heard and the door flew open, a bullet now embedded in it. "DROP THE GUN!" Chloe turned to see the source of the yell and saw three gun-men, including Avram, standing just outside the door-way and with guns pointed at her. "CHLOE!" she then turned to see Belcheck still wrestling with Jelavic. "Just fire! Do it!" he urged her. "Drop the gun or else we will shoot!" Avram ordered. Slowly starting to hyperventilate, Chloe looked left and right constantly, unsure of who to listen to. " _Drop the gun, O'Brian_... or else your female friend gets a bullet in the brain!" a loud voice was heard over the intercom and Chloe instantly recognized it as Hermann, who was pointing a gun at Gabrielle's head whilst holding the plane's radio – the fact he mentioned "female friend" made Chloe instantly think of her. She couldn't surrender.. but at the same time, she was unwilling to let the poor girl die.

Finally, she dropped the gun and raised her hands in surrender. "CHLOE!" Belcheck said in shock, as she turned her head to face him. After what felt like an eternity, the Serb released Jelavic from his grasp. The gun-men forced their way into the bay and forced Chloe out, slamming her against a wall. "Sir... we have them.." Avram spoke into his radio as Belcheck came outside, hands on head. " _Excellent.. Bring them up!_ I want them in here when I contact Heller!" Hermann revealed. As the Romanian put the radio back in its holster, he turned to face his men. "Search them, then bring them to the cockpit!" he ordered. As Chloe and Belcheck were searched, none of them had any idea that they were being watched – just behind the restaurant and in the belly of the plane, Kurt looked through the vent at what he could see of the unfolding scenes. Now what?, he thought to himself.

–

22:45:01PM

 **Ukraine Airspace**

Just outside of the Polish border, two fighter jets zoomed through the sky and they were met with what looked like an Embraer jet. "There it is!" one pilot exclaimed to the other. "Lublin Tower, this is Quantas #17! We have found Flight 78!" the second pilot spoke into his radio. "Acknowledged _, Quantas! Good luck!_ " the Tower Controller responded as the planes neared Flight 78. In the cockpit, Jack was the first to see them. "Look!" he said and all four saw the jets fly by. " _Flight 78, this is #Quantas 17 of the Polish Air Force. Don't worry, guys, you are now in safe hands.._ " the pilot spoke. Jack looked at the cockpit crew. "Thank you, Quantas, that does come as a relief!" the first officer spoke into the radio. Outside, Quantas #17 moved to the underneath of the flight to check the damage. Most of the cargo bay had been blasted away and the air pressure in the sky was leaving the metal holding the cabin floor on the verge of collapsing – but through pure luck, it looked like the landing gear was undamaged. " _Em, Quantas,_ wasn't there a rogue fighter jet around here? Can't see anything.." the other pilot noticed. Quantas was about to respond when the pilot realized, grabbing his radio. "GET OUT OF THE WAY! IT'S A TRAP, ALL OF YOU!" he yelled into it before moving his controls downwards. The other pilot followed suite, followed by Jack moving his controls to the side.. just as another missile flew past all three.

"This is Quantas #17 to Lublin Tower! Have encountered hostile aircraft, about to engage, over!" the Quantas pilot declared over the radio before turning the jet around. He could see the jet that had attacked the three of them. "You want a dogfight, I'll give you one, you scum..." the pilot roared as he pressed down on his controls and two guns started to fire bullets against the rogue jet. As the two started to engage, the second jet circled around to check on Flight 78. "Flight 78, this is Goal Whiskey #53. _What is your condition, over?_ " Goal Whiskey's pilot asked as the first officer picked up the radio. "Goal Whiskey, we are still in one piece. How far to Lublin Airport?" he replied quickly. " _Flight 78, we are approximately 10 minutes from Lublin Airport._ Do you think you can make it in one piece?" the jet's pilot asked. The first officer was about to respond when Romana took the radio out of his hands. "At the minute, Goal Whiskey, _I speak for everyone when I say we'll be happy just to be out of Ukraine airspace_..." she said. "Roger that. Well, I have good news for you. _Just a few seconds more and we'll be in Poland_! _Hang on in there!_ " the pilot confirmed. Whilst the mood in the cockpit was better than it was, Jack knew anything could happen in the next few seconds. He started to push the controls down, taking the plane into a descent and away from the rogue jet, which was still in a dogfight with Quantas #17.

The seconds ticked by slowly but surely, with Jack having what was effectively a death grip on his controls. He could just about hear gun-fire in the background. Finally, sooner than expected, the message came through. " _Flight 78, you are now in Polish airspace.. the path to Lublin Airport is clear.._ " Goal Whiskey's pilot confirmed. The dark shadow lifted off the cockpit and huge smiles appeared on the faces of the flight crew. Even Jack smiled at the relief and a proper smile at that. He saw the captain pick up the cockpit phone and speak to his main flight attendant as he thought about the last few hours. He had finally made it out of the Ukraine and was a step closer to alerting Heller – now he had to find a way back to America. As the captain put the phone down, Romana spoke up. "How's the cabin structure?" she asked the captain. "Good.. it's holding and as we move closer to the ground, it should ease up" he confirmed. Suddenly, all four people heard an explosion behind them and Jack instantly got worried. "Goal Whiskey, what was that explosion?" the first officer asked quickly. There were quite a few seconds of static before there was a response. " _Flight 78, that explosion belonged to the rogue jet; I can confirm it has been destroyed.._ " the Polish jet replied and the wave of concern that had washed up dissipated. Silently, Jack pushed further down on the controls and took the plane closer to the ground.

22:48:51PM

–

22:51:13PM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Hermann was seated in the vacant flight chair in the cockpit, waiting patiently for the finally-caught hostages to arrive. As he waited, Captain Black and Gabrielle shared a look of concern, wondering what the German was going to do next. Finally, the knock came. "Come.." he said without looking and as the door opened, Black and Gabrielle saw Avram walk in followed by Chloe and Belcheck. He smiled at the sight and then looked at Gabrielle. "Release the girl, then treat her for her gunshot wound.." he told the two men standing in front of the door. They nodded and one walked in to uncuff her – pulling her up by her uninjured arm, he escorted out of the cockpit. "Leave us.." the German told Avram who nodded and left, closing the door. Hermann walked up to Chloe, looking her over and smiling. "Hello, Chloe.. You've proven to be quite the slippery person, haven't you?" he asked. Chloe simply looked at him with a cold expression in her eyes. "Then again, you were like that at CTU.. I guess people don't change with age.." he added, hoping to get something out of here. Belcheck moved to just in front of her. "Back off.." he said angrily.

Hermann simply rose an eyebrow. "Really, Chloe? You're gonna let your bodyguard talk for you? That's not like you.." he enquired, almost sarcastic in his approach. The former analyst motioned for the Serb to move back. "What do you want, Hermann?" she said in a straight-to-the-point tone. "I was getting to that.. have a seat" he offered, indicating the first officer's chair. Though she seemed reluctant, she walked towards and sat in it. "Now... from what I've gathered, you are a bit of a wanderer. Belcheck, I presume?" he spoke, this time towards the Serb, who instead glared at him. Realizing he probably wasn't going to get anyone out of him, the German motioned towards the seat Gabrielle had been previously seated in. "Have a seat.. watch out for the blood stains" he said and though Belcheck didn't look like moving at first, he moved towards the seat and sat on the edge of it. "Right.. now we're all sitting comfortably, here is what is going to happen. I was just about to call your President and find out about how he was getting on with my demands.. Pass me the phone please, Captain" Hermann declared, holding his hand out as Black handed him the phone.

–

 **Washington DC**

"Right, thank you, Don.." Baylis spoke into his phone. He turned around to face McKaye and the President. "The paperwork is through.. the prisoners are set to be freed within the next few minutes" he explained and as if right on cue, the phone rang. Heller moved to answer it. "Hermann.." he said, expecting to hear the German. But what he instead heard, he did not expect. " _Mr President.._ " a female voice said, trepidation in her voice. Heller frowned in confusion. "Who is this?" he asked. " _O'Brian, sir..._ Chloe O'Brian.." Chloe said, her voice trembling as Hermann held the phone next to her ear. Heller's face dropped and realization dawned as past memories of Chloe came flooding back – he had not expected her to be on that flight. " _Mr President_ " he suddenly came back to reality as he heard Hermann's voice. "The order is through, Hermann.. The prisoners are being released as we speak! There's no need to kill anyone else!" he said suddenly, fearful that if he had been talking to Chloe, then the German would be planning to sacrifice her. "My dear President, that is not why I put Chloe on the phone.. _I put her on the phone merely to tell you that I have her. But since you've bought up the subject.._ " he said, as Heller put the phone back onto speaker. "My intelligence tells me that the order has indeed been given. I appreciate that, as it means I can trust you for the next order.." he added, constantly looking over at either one of Black, Belcheck and Chloe.

Heller paused, looking up at McKaye and Baylis. "What next order?" he asked and the instant reply came in form of a scoff. " _Oh, come now James.. I know your dementia's not THAT bad_ that you've already forgotten.. you know what I mean.." Hermann insisted. McKaye indicated he would like to speak and Heller nodded. "Well for the sake of reason, would you mind reminding us?" the MI-5 agent asked. " _Oh, very well then.. Basically,_ I want all American forces in Europe withdraw. Armed forces AND covert!" the German repeated. Now, Heller actually knew that that was one of the orders given to him but he was hoping that within all the efforts to release the prisoners, it would have been forgotten. No such luck, it seemed. " _However, James.._ your sterling efforts in getting the prisoners released means I can now trust you.. Long story short, I will leave you to sort out their withdrawal on your own _. I won't phone in until we're over DC and I won't monitor what you're doing, though I will expect results by the time we land.. that, I give my word_ " the German explained. Heller looked up at McKaye and Baylis in surprise – he was absolutely stumped by what had just been said. "I... don't understand" he said. " _Trust me, sir..._ you don't have to. Just be warned that I will expect results.." Hermann said before promptly hanging up.

"Ok, I'm confused..." McKaye said. "He's not going to monitor us? Does he not realize we could order fighter jets to shoot down the plane or something?" Baylis remarked, utterly bewildered. They both looked at Heller who appeared deep in thought. "...he said he expected to have results.. by the time Flight 681 was above DC. Maybe that's a clue.." he thought out-loud. He looked up. "Something must be on that plane!" he realized. "James, what do you want to do?" Baylis asked. Heller sat back, thinking. "Alert all the agencies, get me the head of the FBI.. and update the Pentagon, but give them nothing important! We have to stay ahead of Hermann.." he ordered. Baylis nodded and walked out, pulling out his phone.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

In the seconds following him hanging up, Hermann had walked to in front of the cockpit door. "We know what's down there, Hermann.." Chloe said, looking straight at him. The German looked up and turned around in surprise. "You don't think we don't know about the VX gas.." she added. Black looked up in shock. Hermann rose an eyebrow. "I don't know what you're talking about.." he lied. "Sorry, what's this?" Black asked, concern now filling his voice. Chloe looked at him. "Remember when Hermann said everyone on this plane was dead?" she asked, thinking back to when she'd hacked into the cockpit radio system and overheard what Hermann had said. Black rose an eyebrow at how she had known what the German had said but nodded. "There's VX gas planted on the landing gear.. and I can only guess, some kind of explosive as well.." she continued, turning her head to look at Hermann as she finished. "Don't try and lie, Jurgen. Belcheck saw it with his own eyes".

"I'm not saying anything, Chloe. Fact is, what the hell are you gonna be able to do about it? There's no way Heller is going to find out and when he does, it'll be too late.." the German said, crossing his arms and smiling as Chloe looked up at him. Down below, meanwhile, in the belly of the plane, Kurt clambered his way through the open wall vent in the elevator shaft. After checking to ensure the coast was clear, he made his way back towards the cabins and walked back into his own one – to his relief, the room looked untouched from during the attempted escape. He walked towards a bedsit table and rummaged around in it, finally smiling as he pulled out two phones. He knew what he had to do, as he checked to ensure the coast was clear and ran back towards the shaft.

–

22:56:05PM

 **Polish Airspace**

For all the damage it had underneath, Flight 78 was still intact as it flew closer and closer to the ground. The captain put down the phone. "All passengers are seated and ready for landing. Lower landing gear.." he explained and then ordered. The first officer flicked a switch and the sound of the wheels coming down could be heard throughout the plane. "How are the engines holding up?" Jack asked as Romana looked at another panel. "They seem to be alright.. they should last until landing" she confirmed. "Alright.. everyone, buckle down.." the captain ordered and Jack looked over at Romana and the first officer sitting down. Just ahead in the distance, he could see several bright lights and as they got closer, he sighed in relief. "There it is.." he said and the cockpit crew looked ahead. They could just about make out the main terminal for Lublin Airport.

Suddenly, they were pulled out of their thoughts rather roughly as the whole plane shook violently and they heard the sounds of what appeared to be an engine exploding. "What the hell?" the Captain yelled as he and Jack wrestled with their controls to regain the plane. Romana grabbed the radio. "Goal Whiskey, what the hell was that, over?" she yelled into it. " _Flight 78, we have a problem – it would seem your left engine has just exploded! What do your instruments say?!_ " the jet's pilot replied. The first officer quickly looked at it and gave a thumbs down gesture to Romana. "Goal Whiskey, it's not good. I don't think we'll be able to get to the airport! Are they any roads that we could land on directly below us?" she replied quickly. There were a few seconds of static. " _Roger, Flight 78. I'll alert Lublin Airport, over_ " the pilot said simply before static once again overcame the airwaves. An alarm started to go off and the first officer looked at it. "We've lost the engine, we're gonna roll to the left!" he yelled and almost instinctively, Jack and the captain started to fight the plane and stop the roll. "SERGEI!" the captain yelled as loud as he could at his first officer. "TURN OFF THE RIGHT-HAND ENGINE!" he ordered. Romana and the first officer, now known as Sergei, looked at him with shock on their faces.

"JUST DO IT!" the captain insisted. Finally, Sergei moved to the control panel and started the shutdown proceeder. As the plane looked more and more likely to roll to the left, it suddenly stopped. Down below on the roads, police cars came rattling out of the airport and moved in both directions, planning on clearing the roads. In the cockpit, the barrage of alarms slowly started to cease as the plane stopped its roll. "We're gonna have to land now.." Jack said as he pushed the controls down; whilst he didn't want to land now, they couldn't risk losing control again. Officers from the airport police cars looked up to see Flight 78 getting closer and closer to the road. For the second time in about 2 hours, Jack was having to land a damaged aircraft on a strip of road, only this time he had possibly even less control than he did with the helicopter. Stabilizing the controls, Jack and the captain readied themselves for a possible crash-landing as the wheels got closer and closer to the ground. "Come on..." Sergei muttered in Ukrainian, as finally the back wheels flew past a blockade of police cars and touched the ground. The front wheels soon followed but the moment they touched the road, they bounced back up and feel down again, before breaking off all together. The nosecone slammed onto the ground and everyone in the cockpit fell forwards as the front of the plane scraped along the road - the sparks flew from the friction as the plane looked like showing no signs of stopping.

Realizing they weren't coming to a halt, Jack eyed the thrust lever and pulled it back gently. The plane flew down the road at speed, but finally seemed to be coming to a halt. Smashing through a barricade of police vans, Flight 78 finally started to slow down and scraped to a halt just in front of the airport entrance. In every sense of the world, it had landed.

–

23:00:00PM


	8. 8: 11pm - 12am (EST)

8: 11pm – 12am (EST):

 **DISCLAIMER: See Chapter 1**

Hey, guys. First of all, can I just say I AM SO SORRY for not updating in about a month! Basically, uni work, moving back home for Easter and then doing even more uni work over Easter led to me not being able to update each part of the story for some time. I should probably warn you now that updates will not be as common as they were for the first 7 installments but at least I am now a third of the way through the story. Keep your reviews (and any criticism) coming and let me know what you think of this chapter and more! :) 

* * *

**The following takes place between 11pm and 12am, European Standard Time:**

–

23:00:01PM

 **North Atlantic Sea**

Crawling as fast as he could past the landing gear of Flight 681, Kurt moved back towards the vent entrance that led to the restaurant area and pulled one of the two phones from his trouser pockets. Using it to search online, he pulled up the phone number... of the White House. He couldn't believe he was about to do this, but he had a feeling that whoever had hijacked the plane was not about to tell the President about what would happen when the plane landed - he had to tell him! Pulling out the other phone, he typed in the number and put the other phone to his ear. After several rings, his call was answered. " _White House Service Board_ " a female voice replied. Kurt took a deep breath, knowing what he had to. "Trace this phone-call, then put me through to the President.. it's an emergency!" he said. " _May I ask who this is?_ " the woman replied, a combination of confusion and suspicion in her voice. Kurt was about to reply when he heard footsteps coming into the restaurant. Instantly taking the phone away from his ear, he peeked through the vent and held his breath – there was a lone gun-man walking through the area and he couldn't risk talking in case he was somehow heard.

He could fully well hear the woman on the phone going " _Sir? Sir_?" repeatedly and he wished the man would move soon so he could get back to here. He finally turned his back and Kurt put the phone back to his ear. "Please, just trace the call!" he pleaded but the woman didn't get the message. " _Sir, I need to know who this is.. I can't just put you through to the President without knowing..._ " the woman insisted as he eyed the man leaving the restaurant area. "For the love of Christ, woman, just trace the call!" he said in a loud whisper. " _Sir, I'm giving you one more chance to give me your identity.._ " the switchboard woman replied, getting annoyed at Kurt's attitude. Kurt was trying very hard not to yell at the woman – he had no doubt she was doing his job but this was an emergency. "Look, I'm on United Airlines Flight 681! Just tell the President that, please! I don't have much time as it is!" he replied, nearly losing his temper.

"Alright then, sir.. I'll trace the call. And then I'll give the police your location for trying to waste our time.." the woman said, typing into her computer to trace the call. The location of the call came up almost instantly and her jaw dropped in shock. It came from the North Atlantic Ocean and it was moving every few seconds, much like it was coming from a plane. She instantly spoke into her headset. "Sir? _Are you still there?_ " she asked. "Yeah... Please just put me through" he whispered. " _Stay on the line, sir. I'll be a few seconds_ " the woman said. Kurt sighed, hoping the woman was keeping him on the line for a good reason.

–

 **White House**

" _As it is, Mr President, we should consider an evacuation of the city and all surrounding area. It's like Brian said, we don't know what's on that plane.._ " a voice said through speaker-phone, talking with Heller, McKaye and Baylis. "I'm not sure about that, Graham. For starters, we can't evacuate the whole city within 2 hours.." Baylis was first to reply. "And there's the fact we don't know what EXACTLY in on that plane. Hermann could be calling our bluff and I think we should try and find out more before we act.." McKaye added, as Heller looked deep in thought. " _With all due respect, gentlemen_ , we've been in contact with Mr. Hermann for a few hours now and we don't even know what it is that these hijackers want, aside from their demands!" the man known as Graham said, as he sat at his desk in a large office. A nameplate with his full-name, Graham Borisdon, sat on his desk and also on the nameplate read his occupation: director of the FBI. " _Mr President? What are you thinking?_ " he heard McKaye and back in the Oval Office, Heller looked up. "All of you... have made some pretty valid points. But... _Graham, Brian's right. We can't evacuate the city in such a short space of time. We'll have to draw up some plans of collateral damage and call in the Armed Forces_ but we can't evacuate" he decided.

He could hear the FBI director sign in frustration over the phone. "But, Graham... I'm sure you've been told _about how there might be a mole in the Pentagon_..." he added. "Yes..." Borisdon replied after a few seconds, unsure as to where the President was going. " _I need the FBI to monitor the Pentagon discreetly._ If there is a mole, we need to catch them!" Heller declared. There were a few seconds of silence. " _If that's what you wish, sir_... I can get someone on it straight-away – no-one at the Pentagon would even realize.." the director finally agreed. " _Thank you, Graham.._ let me know if you get anything from it.." Heller spoke before promptly hanging up. He looked up at McKaye and Baylis. He couldn't understand it – the Pentagon was supposed to be one of the most secure places on the planet and yet now he was having to give the order for the FBI to spy on them. He was about to ask them if he had made the right choice when his phone beeped. " _Mr President, there's a call on line two for you.._ " a female voice said – it was the woman from the White House switchboard. Heller pressed down on the phone's speaker.

"Who is it?" he asked. " _That's just it, sir.. he won't reveal who he is but he insists he needs to talk to you!_ " the woman replied. Heller thought for a few seconds. "I'm rather busy right now, so unless it's important.." he started to say, but the woman interrupted. " _I think it is Mr President!_ Unless I'm mistaken, I think the call is coming from Flight 681!" she said. Heller was about to reply but then stopped. His eyes widened as he took in what he had been told. Flight 681?! "Put it through!" he instantly replied and he looked back up – Baylis and McKaye were now gathered around his desk. Several seconds passed but finally the woman spoke up. " _Sir, you are on with the President!_ " she said and her voice was replaced with what appeared to be a voice speaking in an air-pressured part of the plane. " _Mr President?_ " Kurt spoke up, relieved to hear his voice. "Thank god... I've been trying to reach you, sir!" he added, sighing. " _So I've gathered..._ just to note, you're also on with Andrew McKaye and the National Security Advisor! Now, I wanna know _who are you and what's happening on Flight 681?_ " Heller replied. "I'm Kurt, sir. Kurt Escalona. And to be honest, I've no idea what I could tell you.." came the reply from the young America, to which Heller frowned slightly. "Ok, well.. try and explain as best you can – now, do you have who has hijacked this plane?" he asked. Of course, he knew full well just who had hijacked Flight 681 but he had to check this person was the real deal.

"All I know, sir... is it's some German called Jurgen Hermann, I think.." Kurt replied. Heller nodded. "Ok. Do you know what it is they want?" he replied. " _Kind-of, Mr President._ Something about wanting a group of prisoners released from jail and the withdrawal of American forces across Europe, I think" Kurt answered, thinking back to what he had heard over his laptop and what Chloe had told him. Heller's stony face softened, this Kurt was the genuine article. "Ok, Mr Escalona. I have a few more questions _I need answering. Is there a Chloe O'Brian onboard?_ " he asked. Kurt's eyes rose in surprise. "Yes, there is! And a tall man that was with her.. _I think he was called Belcheck!_ " he replied quickly and Heller's eyebrows rose – both Chloe AND Belcheck were on that plane? McKaye quickly waded into the conversation. "Mr Escalona, Andrew McKaye. _Hermann contacted us just a few minutes ago – he's requested we complete one of his orders by the time the plane lands but not before_ ; I know it sounds confusing, but can you think of any possible reasons why he would do that?" he asked. Kurt stopped, confused by the Englishman's question. But then a thought sprang to mind. "Now that you say it... _I think he said he had no intention of letting the plane land_ " he said, moving towards the landing gear.

The three men in the White House shared a look of confusion. Hermann had said he expected results for when the plane landed but now they had learnt he had no intention of landing the plane. "I.. don't understand what you mean.." Heller said slowly – at first, he got no reply as Kurt had moved the phone away from his ear and was crouching down to check the cylinders containing the nerve agent on the plane's wheels. " _Mr Escalona?_ " the President spoke again. Kurt returned the phone to his ear as he heard his name being called a second time. "Sorry, sir.. but yeah, _I don't think Hermann intends to land the plane_ " he admitted. This time, Baylis spoke up. "How can you be so sure, Mr Escalona?" he asked. Kurt sighed – he had no idea what VX gas was but from the early reactions of Chloe and Belcheck, it was something nasty. " _By account of the fact there's VX gas on the landing gear_ " he admitted. The mood within the Oval Office instantly darkened. Baylis looked at McKaye in complete shock - "How the hell did Hermann.." Baylis started but then found himself unable to find the words to finish. "How can you be sure it's VX gas?" Heller spoke into the phone. Kurt had taken the seconds of silence to move out of the landing gear area.

"I can't... _I'm going on what the Serb told me earlier..._ but I got the feeling very little scares this guy and this scared him!" he replied. Heller knew what he meant – from when he had spoken with the Serb mobster back in London, he looked and sounded like a guy who didn't scare easily. "Ok, whereabouts on the landing gear is this VX gas?" the President asked further. Kurt didn't have to look back over at the landing gear as he knew exactly where they were positioned. "Right above the wheels.. now I don't have any knowledge of planes, Mr President, _but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some kind of explosive on this flight and if it went off when the landing gear is deployed_.." he admitted – for all he knew, there was no explosive but that would just raise even more questions – why place such a deadly nerve agent on a plane and have it overfly an area with the intent of inflicting maximum damage, but then have no means of actually spreading the agent over the area? Heller bit his lip in worry and realization – he now knew Hermann's intentions to an extent; even if he ordered the withdrawal of those covert agents in Europe, the hijackers would probably detonate the nerve agent. "Mr Escalona, I have to go. _I'll have the White House switchboard trace your number in case we need to ring you_ " he told the young American. "Yes, sir.." Kurt whispered and the President promptly hung up. Everything he thought he knew about the hijacking had gone out the window and he needed to rethink.

"Draw up a casualty estimate if this VX gas IS detonated.. and get me the Cabinet!" he ordered, looking at Baylis who nodded and left. McKaye put his hand on his forehead. "What now, sir?" he asked. Heller looked up. "To be honest, son... I have no clue.." he said. He was thankful he could still remember the events of the last few hours but now he faced an impossible choice.

–

23:07:09PM

 **Lublin**

Jack furiously kicked against the cockpit door, trying to force his way out of the cockpit. In the seconds following the crash-landing, the flight attendants had ordered an immediate evacuation and from a phone-call made by the captain to one of the senior attendants, it was learnt everyone had been evacuated safely – now just Jack, the pilots and Romana were left. But the door had jammed and whilst it was built so it could move inwards, Jack was kicking at it not to force it outwards but to just make a hole in the door so they could escape. Finally, lining himself up for a full slam against the door, the American forced his way through. "Come on!" he yelled, waiting. Finally, Romana emerged and immediately moved towards the emergency door, jumping out of the plane, followed in turn by the captain and Sergei. As he heard the captain and the first officer hit the floor, he followed suite – jumping onto the rubber slide, he slide onto the ground and was pulled to his feet by Romana. He looked around him and could see various passengers being treated for any injuries acquired during the crash-landing. "Everyone ok?" he asked the female flight attendant. Romana slowly nodded. "A few injuries but no-one has died. I think it's safe to say you saved them.." she replied, smiling at the end. Jack smiled sadly and looked around, relieved at the news.

"I'm sorry... for what I did to you at the start of the flight" he said, turning back to face the tall Ukrainian. He knew he apologized before-hand but he still felt guilty about what he did, even if it was necessary. Romana smiled. "Don't worry.. I know why you did it and if you ask any of the crew-members on this flight, you'll learn that I don't hold a grudge.." she insisted, pulling Jack into a hug. Several seconds passed by before the attendant spoke again. "What are you going to do now?" she asked, releasing Jack from the hug. He sighed. "I've got to get back to America and fas..." he started but then stopped. Romana looked around and saw, to her shock, several Polish police officers surrounding the two of them with guns raised. "Ma'am, I order you to step away from that man now!" a senior-looking officer yelled in Polish. In the corner of Jack's eye, he could see the two pilots coming up towards them in shock. "What the hell is going on?" the captain yelled. "Sir, we have orders to take this man into custody! Do not interfere.." another officer informed him. Romana instantly moved in front of Jack, almost like a human shield. "On what grounds? He helped land this plane!" she yelled, defending him.

"You would never have been in danger if he wasn't on that plane to begin with! We won't say it again – step away from him!" the senior officer yelled, as Jack put a hand on Romana's shoulder. "It's ok.." he said firmly as he moved slowly towards the senior officer, raising his arms in the process. Submitting himself to a body search, he was then put in handcuffs and led to the back of an airport police car. Romana could only watch – yes, Jack hijacked the flight but his actions didn't kill anyone. The American was forced into the back of the police car whilst the senior officer seated himself in the front of the car. He turned to the young driver. "Leave us" he said sternly in Polish – since Jack didn't understand Polish, he couldn't understand a word of what the officer was saying, so he was a bit surprised when the driver got out of the police car. The moment the door was closed, the senior officer turned to face Jack. "Don't worry, Mr Bauer, you're quite safe.." he said, speaking perfect English. Jack's eyes rose in surprise. "How do you know who I am?" he asked.

"About 10 minutes before we were alerted to the plane's situation, I was contacted by the British Embassy in Warsaw. London has been actively searching for you for the last six hours" the officer replied almost instantly. Inside, Jack was somewhat taken aback – why would London be searching for him? "I don't understand.." he replied quietly. The officer sighed, trying to word what he was going to say. "It's not quite official otherwise an official BOLO would have been put out.. but according to sources in London, President Heller has been trying to find you" he finally explained. Jack sat back, almost reeling at what he had been told. He was tempted to say that he'd been trying to contact the President, but he kept quiet – this officer may seem helpful but he couldn't help feeling a bit suspicious. "Would it be possible for me to contact him?" he asked. The officer nodded. "Of course – and I should add, I've read your record, Mr Bauer; I know you wouldn't have hijacked that flight without good reason.." he added and he started up the car. By now, the rest of the police vehicles were heading back to the station and the senior officer's car followed. Inside, Jack wiped his forehead in relief – he was not out of the woods yet but at least he was out of the Ukraine.

23:11:04PM

–

23:15:31PM

 **Lublin Airport**

As the convey of police cars entered a large hangar, the senior officer's car stopped in the far-left hand corner – the officer pulled Jack from the backside and uncuffed him. "Thanks.." he muttered as he placed his hands on the top of the car, resting them. "Be as quick as possible." the officer added. Jack nodded as he took the phone that the officer had placed on the top of the car and typed in the number he knew quite well.

–

 **White House**

Screwing the cap back on his bottle of tablets, Heller placed the tablets into his mouth and then picked up his glass of water, downing both beverage and tablets in one go. Pacing up and down in front of his desk was McKaye, waiting impatiently for Baylis to give the go-ahead to head down to the conference room so Heller could meet with the remainder of his Cabinet – he had expected to see some of them here but he was surprised to learnt that nearly all of the Cabinet, save for Heller, the Vice-President, the Chief of Staff and the N.S.A, were all attending conferences across the world on the behalf of the President. At long last, a member of the President's security detail appeared in the doorway. "Mr President, the Cabinet is ready for you!" he announced. Heller nodded and got up, walking towards the door. McKaye was about to follow behind him when the phone on the desk suddenly started to ring.

McKaye looked back and then looked at the President. "I thought he said..." the MI-5 agent started, instantly believing the caller to be Hermann. Heller rose his finger, as to say stop and walked back towards the phone. Looking down at it for a few seconds, he finally answered on the 7th ring. "This is Heller.." he said, coldly but also calmly. " _Mr President,_ it's me!" Jack yelled, thankful he had finally contacted the President. Heller almost did a double-take as he realized who he was talking to. "JACK?!" he replied. McKaye could see the President's evident surprise and he realized who he was talking to - "Jack" as in Jack Bauer, the same man that he had been trying to find for quite a few hours now. "Jack, whereabouts are you?" Heller quickly asked, thinking that he might be on the way to America by now. " _That's kind-of hard to explain, sir_... as it is, I'm currently in Poland!" Jack replied. Heller's jaw fell in surprise and he found himself moving Poland in confusion. "I don't understand! _How can you be in Poland? You were only in London last night_!" he said rapidly, trying to make sense of what he had been told. "I know, sir and it's a long story.. _but frankly, that's not important. I have reason to believe_ that your life is still in danger.." Jack replied, getting straight to the point. Heller froze – he knew Jack well enough that if he felt the President's life was in danger or the life of anything important to him, he was most likely right. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Jack sighed as he tried to find the words to explain what he meant, without giving too much away. "I've found evidence.. of what appears to be some _kind of attack on the country.._ " he finally said. Back in the White House, Baylis walked in and noticed McKaye next to the door-way. "What's going on, who's the President talking with?" he asked the MI-5 agent, who looked at him and turned back to face the President. "Jack Bauer.." he replied. "Ok, Jack, I'm not accusing you of lying by any means... _but what kind of evidence?_ " Heller asked. Jack was about to answer but quickly turned away so that his back was facing the airport police. "Among the plans I read regarding the attack, there was an explicit order for my death... _I've just spent the last 6 hours being pursued across central Ukraine by both Russian soldiers AND Ukraine rebels.._ " he said quietly, but enough for Heller to hear. " _And that's not all, sir..._ there was something among the plans about a plane hijacking; apparently, that's a ruse, _something to distract you from another plan..._ " he added. For several seconds, there was silence – Heller had heard a lot of things over the past few hours that he thought he couldn't believe, but he did not see this coming at all! Now he knew why Hermann's demands didn't seem that serious in the grand scheme of things; they were nothing more than a ruse and he'd most probably detonate the VX gas over DC regardless of whether he would follow his orders.

But the fact that one of the ordered plans had been to kill Jack.. that could only mean that whoever had planned these attacks had known that he was alive, which meant this plan had been potentially months in the making. " _Mr President?_ " Jack said suddenly and Heller snapped out of his thoughts. "Sorry, Jack... _it's just, for the last few hours, I've actually been having to deal with a plane hijacking!_ United Airlines Flight 681 – it's been hijacked by a former German intelligence agent.." he replied. " _...sorry, sir, did you say 681?!_ " Jack replied almost instantly, panic in his voice. At first confused by the panic in his voice, Heller suddenly realized. Chloe O'Brian. "Yes... Flight 681..." he said and Jack sighed in anger. " _DAMN IT! That's the same flight I put Chloe_ on back to America!" he explained, confirming Heller's suspicion. There was deadly silence for quite a few seconds as Jack thought of his next move. "Bare with me a minute, sir.." he told Heller before putting the phone and turning to face the senior airport police officer. "I need a fighter jet; I've got to get back to America now and a fighter jet is the fastest option I can think of. What's the fastest jet the airport has?" he asked quietly. The officer thought for just a second before it came to him. "The Mikoyan MIG-29; there are 5 of them on stand-by" he said. Jack nodded. "I need one. Now." he ordered.

The officer nodded himself and walked towards the group of officers. Jack put the phone back to his ear. "Mr President, I'm flying back to America, but I'm gonna need some help.." he explained. "Anything, Jack.." Heller replied as soon as he heard him talking again. "I'm gonna be flying back in three stages to avoid suspicion.. I need a naval carrier to meet me in the North Atlantic, then a helicopter to transport me to the White House. I'm gonna aim to be in DC by around 10pm your time.." the former CTU agent explained. "Very well _, Jack.._ I'll get you that carrier as soon as possible.." Heller agreed. " _Thank you, sir.._ I'll contact you when I'm overflying the ocean. Oh and sir?" Jack added. Heller stopped, waiting to hear what else he had to say. Jack bit his lip and a ball formed in his throat. "I'm so sorry about Audrey.." he said before promptly hanging up, trying hard not to break into tears as he walked towards the group of officers. Before Heller could even reply to what Jack had said, he heard the dial tone. He slowly put the phone down and looked up at McKaye and Baylis. "Sir?" Baylis asked first, worried. "We've got a problem, gentlemen.. and it could potentially get a lot worse.." he said, before walking towards the door frame. McKaye instinctively moved out of the way and exchanged a look with the NSA before following Heller.

–

23:20:03PM

 **Lublin Airport**

Jack walked over towards the officer, who was finishing up a phone-call on the hanger phone in his native language. "Right, thank you.." he said as he hung up and turned to face the American. "A Mig is being prepared for you now. Should be about 5 minutes before it's ready." he confirmed. Jack nodded and was about to reply when the Polish airport officer spoke again. "I should warn you though. I've ordered the onboard tracking system be disabled – it may seem risky but it'll mean you can get through European airspace undetected..". Though a bit surprised by this, Jack nods. "That's fine, thank you..." he started before pausing, realizing he didn't know the officer's name. Luckily, the old officer smiled. "Just call me Dowski.." he said, holding his hand out. Jack nodded and took up the offer of the hand. "Thanks, Dowski.." the American finished what he spoke. Then a thought sprang to mind. "Won't the control tower get suspicious if an aircraft takes off suddenly, considering the crash-landing outside?" he asked. "Got that covered, don't worry; by the time they realize, you'll be long gone.." Dowski responded, crossing his arms.

Jack was quite surprised – for someone he had just met, Officer Dowski was quite obviously someone who acted quickly and had everything covered. His gut was telling him he should be suspicious, but he had no reason to think Dowski was in league with either the Russians or Ukranians. But in the end, he simply nodded. "Thanks.." he said. "Jack!" a female voice and both men looked towards the open hangar door, as standing there was Romana. "One sec..." the American said to Dowski, as he walked over to the Ukraine flight attendant. "Hey.. you shouldn't be here." he said softly. Romana almost scoffed. "The paramedics have checked me out, I'm fine – I was worried with how you were.." she insisted, almost surprised that Jack wasn't being interrogated. The American looked around – there weren't many people in the hangar and none of them were right near the two of them. He knew he shouldn't really be telling Romana what he was about to say but he felt she had a right to know. "What I'm about to say, you can't tell anyone.. not even if you're asked about the crash-landing.." he finally said. Romana rose an eyebrow but nodded as Jack led her towards a quiet corner.

–

 **White House**

A Secret Service agent opened a door leading to a large conference room, as Heller, Baylis and McKaye walked in. On the large plasma screen, all in different locations, were about 15 people – all members of the Cabinet. "Mr President.." one said, nodding, as the door was closed. "Good evening, everyone.. before I start, this is Andrew McKaye. He's from MI-5 and he's been a huge help in tackling the events of the last few hours, which is why he's sitting in with us.." Heller explained, as McKaye nodded at the various heads on the screen. "Brian?" Heller turned to Baylis, indicating for him to start off. "For those of you who don't know and to quell any rumours you may have heard..." the NSA started to explain, standing up as he did. "... Vice-President Marshall is dead". The stony faces of those on the screen fell upon hearing this, with some even having to make a double-take. "What happened?" one of them, a women with glasses, asked. "As it is, Jessica, we've no idea – all we know is that his helicopter was found burnt-out on the outskirts of DC.." Baylis replied. "And that it somehow ties in with the hijacking of Flight 681" McKaye added. For a moment, there was stunned silence before another person spoke up. "You said the Vice-President's death links in with the hijacking; in what way are they linked?" the man asked.

Heller had been keeping his head down ever since Baylis had started talking, but upon hearing this question, he looked up. "We've only just found out there's even a link to begin with. I've just been in contact with Jack Bauer" he explained and the mere mention of Bauer sent the eyebrows of all those on screen rising in surprise. The man who had asked about the link was about to start talking again when Heller rose his hand, telling him not to say anything. "I know what you're thinking, but you don't know the full story. Jack's the reason I'm still here right now. He intentionally surfaced in London to stop the attacks against me and he knows the truth behind both the hijacking and the death of the Vice-President.." he revealed. Jessica leaned in closer to the screen. "And what is the truth?" she asked. Heller swallowed slightly. "He says he's found evidence that both the hijacking and the Vice-President's death are part of a terrorist plot against this country" he finally said. The mood within the conference room, and wherever those on the screen were, turned cold – of course, both McKaye and Baylis had no idea what Bauer and the President were talking about, so to hear of a possible terrorist threat against the country was not what they were expecting to hear.

"What kind of threat?" another man asked. "Jack didn't go into too much details, but I've also had contact with someone onboard Flight 681 – it would seem that flight is carrying VX gas.." Heller replied. "Frankly, it's becoming more clear the hijacker's demands are a ruse – had it not been for this person, we wouldn't have realized the plane had VX gas until it was too late!" McKaye added. The looks on the cabinet members seemed to suggest that Bauer's claim of a terrorist attack had some legs but Jessica wasn't too sure. "And you're trusting Bauer on this? Mr President, this is the person who murdered countless Russians and nearly killed Charles Logan among other things and you're trusting him?!" she exclaimed. Heller sighed and gave the Attorney General a glare. "Charles Logan was a traitor to this country, Ms. Barrett.. not just for killing Wayne Palmer but for helping to cover up the Russian's involvement in the murder of Omar Hassan! Jack may have committed murder but he was trying to uncover the truth – besides, look at his track record; if Jack suspects something bad is about to happen, he's usually proven right!" he retorted. But then he noticed some of the cabinet members had looks of concern on their faces.

Before he could even speak, Baylis discreetly handed him a note. On it read "It was David Palmer". Heller's insides turned – his dementia had struck again and at one of the worst times possible. He needed to draw everyone away from this. "My point is, I think we should trust Jack on this. Had he not contacted me before-hand, we wouldn't have even knew there was a terrorist plan happening – they could blow up the US Capitol and we wouldn't even know until it was too late!" he explained, hoping the Cabinet would understand what he was saying – whilst their faces suggested they didn't, some of them nodded. Sensing things going south, Baylis waded in. "Let's take 5 minutes, use it to come up with any solutions for this problem." he said before picking up a remote and turning off the screen. Heller put his head in his hands, shaking his head. "How could I forget a name like David Palmer?" he said, flustered. "Mr President, it's ok. This is coverable – just say you got the brothers mixed up, it can happen to anyone!" McKaye insisted. "You don't understand, McKaye – I SHOULD know, I was involved in the whole conspiracy that started with David Palmer's death! I nearly killed myself in trying to save Jack and Audrey that night.." the President replied.

"Look, James.. it's ok. They may be thinking the worst but you should use this as a chance to prove you're not incapable. You're our President and you can still make decisions.." Baylis pointed out. Heller looked up at him. "I get that, Brian, but when I can't even remember a previous President's name in front of my Cabinet.." he replied. McKaye and Baylis exchanged a look. "We're still here, sir. We'll make sure nothing goes wrong. Don't worry.." McKaye said reassuringly. Heller looked up and gave a slight smile. "Thank you, both of you. It's good to know there are people I can still count on.." he said. "Don't worry, sir. It's our pleasure.." Baylis said. As the three waited for the rest of the Cabinet, Heller thought to himself – even if Jack made it back to America, it was highly unlikely he'd be able to stop Flight 681. Part of him was thinking about shooting the plane down before it reached DC, before the VX gas could be distributed, but he just didn't know.

18:27:10PM

–

23:33:45PM

 **Lublin Airport**

"MR. BAUER!" Dowski called over to Jack who was still talking with Romana. The American looked behind him and noticed the old airport officer beckoning him over. "One second.." he told the flight attendant as he walked over to Dowski. "The jet's ready.. we've had to remove weapons and the onboard scanner but it's good to go!" the Pole explained. Jack nodded. "Does it have autopilot control?" he asked. "Yes. Just lock in your course and keep control throughout but there is autopilot capability.." came the reply. Looking back at Romana, Jack made his decision. "I can't keep the President waiting; I need to leave within the next 5 minutes.." he said. Dowski nodded. "We'll get the jet on the runway immediately – you should say goodbye to her.." he replied, indicating towards Romana. Jack looked back and nodded. "Yeah.. just get that jet ready.." he ordered. Dowski simply nodded as the American walked back towards the flight attendant who looked up. "Everything ok?" she asked. "Yeah.. but I've to go – I'm taking off in the next 5 minutes" he started.

"To fly to America?" she said, interrupting. Jack nodded, looking into her eyes – he could see she was concerned for him. "I'll be fine.. the airport police had to remove missiles and anything unimportant, but as long as I stay out of immediate eyesight.." he insisted. Romana gave a slight smile. "Just let me know when you land. Promise me that.." she requested, pulling him into a hug. Jack sighed. "I will, thank you!" he assured. Finally pulling himself free, he walked towards the open hangar door where Dowski was standing, watching the jet being taxied onto the runway.

–

23:36:00PM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

In the cockpit of Flight 681, the flight console started to beep. Hermann looked over and noticed it was coming from the radar. "What's this, Captain?" he asked. Black looked over. "It's the planned flightpath, this happens when you deviate from a planned course on a plane like this" he explained. Silence followed as he looked up at Hermann, waiting for him to say something. "Well, turn it off!" the German said almost sarcastically, like he was talking to an idiot. Black moved over to the radar and rolled his eyes. "Aren't you going to tell us, Hermann?" Chloe suddenly asked and the German looked at her. "Tell you what?" he asked, his tone faking obliviousness. "Why you're having us take a longer route?" came the reply from the former analysis. Hermann simply rose an eyebrow and Chloe sighed, knowing full well he was pretending to not know what she was talking about. "Surely you'd want to get to DC airspace within the shortest amount of time possible – you know, put the President under more pressure?" she pushed for an answer.

Hermann lightly scoffed. "Oh, Chloe... you've clearly forgotten from the last time we saw each other. In the words of the Joker, "I'm a man of my word". If I wanted to attack DC, I'd do it after a given time and not before" he finally revealed. Black looked up at the German in utter confusion – this guy was nuts! "But of course, it's irrelevant whether this plane overflies DC in an hour, two hours or even a day – what can your President or anyone do to stop it?" Hermann added, looking down at Chloe who simply glared daggers at him. "You don't know what he's going to do.." Belcheck spoke up and everyone looked at him. "For all you know, he's planning to stop this plane even entering DC airspace" the Serb added. Hermann simply looked at him before smirking. "I know the President.. he's not going to do anything, at least not whilst hundreds of lives are involved" he said, his tone of voice showing he was quite positive in his belief. Whilst his back was turned, Chloe's thoughts turned to that of Kurt – he was still in the belly of the plane and quite possibly their last hope.

Down below in the belly of the plane, meanwhile, Kurt crawled towards the elevator shaft and pulled the panel off the wall slowly – the elevator was down, which meant he would have to wait. Suddenly, he felt a vibrating in his pocket and he pulled out one of the phones – a strange number was ringing him and he was confident it was the President. He quickly pressed down on the answer button and put it to his ear. "Mr President?" he asked.

–

 **White House**

"Mr Escalona" Heller said, speaking into the conference room phone as he looked up at Baylis, then McKaye and then the remainder of his cabinet. "You're also on with my cabinet as well as Andrew McKaye and Brian Baylis from earlier" he added. " _Hey_ " Kurt said, acknowledging their presence. " _And also, Mr President_.. I'd be grateful if you just called me Kurt. All this mister stuff, _it just makes me nervous_ " he added. "Very well.. Kurt. What's happened since we last spoke to you?" Heller replied. Kurt looked around him before replying. "Not much in all honesty.. haven't heard any gunshots _so I don't think anyone has been killed. At least, not yet_ " he admitted. Heller eased a little at hearing that – at least no one was dead. " _Mr Escalona.._ " a male voice said and Heller looked up. It was one of the cabinet members on the plane's large screen. " _This is Michael Gerrard_ " the man said. Despite his condition, Heller easily recognized him – he was the Secretary of State and owing to the death of the Vice-President, next in line for the Presidency should anything happen to him. " _The President relayed back to us that you reported VX gas on the landing gear of Flight 681. Could you confirm that for us_?" he asked.

Kurt could hardly believe his ears. " _I know it might seem strange, but we need to know for sure!_ " he heard the SoS continue. "Fine.. give me a second" he finally agreed as he crawled back towards the landing gear. In the conference room, the atmosphere was tense – they could understand that Kurt wouldn't lie about something like nerve gas but Gerrard was right, they had to know for sure. " _Ok, I'm by the landing gear. I'm looking at the canisters.._ " Kurt finally said, waiting for instructions. "Can you see any form of scientific writing on them?" McKaye asked. Several seconds went by. "Yes.. I can. O... ethyl... S" he reported slowly. On the plasma screen, one of the cabinet members was looking over a series of notes and he looked up, a grim look on his face. " _O-ethyl-S.. IT IS VX gas!_ " he said. The cabinet had expressed shock at hearing it the first time around, but now they had confirmation VX gas was on Flight 681, the mood had sunk even further. Kurt was unsure on how to take their silence. "Is everything ok? _I could open up a canister, take a better look.._ " he offered. "NO, NO! That's quite alright, Kurt. Thank you" Heller quickly replied – now he knew for sure, he had a serious choice to make. But before anyone else could say anything, Kurt suddenly heard a muffled, but loud voice coming through what appeared to be the intercom. " _Kurt Escalona!_ " the voice said. Kurt looked up in complete surprise.

In the conference room, Heller had heard this as well. "Kurt?" he said. However, he couldn't be heard as Kurt was rapidly looking around him to see if he'd been spotted. The voice speaking again bought him out of his senses and he instantly recognized it – it was Hermann! "Y _ou have been causing me a great deal of trouble for the past few hours and now that I know who you are, I am going to make you a once-only offer – you have until quarter past midnight, European Standard Time, to make yourself known and to surrender._ If you do not, it will be more than just your girlfriend who will have a bullet in your head!" Hermann said, looking down at his iPad which had Kurt's profile on it and then looking up at Chloe. Near the landing gear, the German's words began to make sense to Kurt – he had both Chloe and Belcheck in the cockpit and could easily kill both of them. " _I say again, you have about 35 minutes to surrender!_ " came one final warning before silence filled the plane. Kurt slowly bought the phone to his ear. "Did you hear all that, sir?" he asked.

"Yes, Kurt. I did" Heller finally replied – he had a serious decision to make. " _Well.. what can I do? I wouldn't put it past them_ to kill me the moment I come out!" the young American pushed for an answer. Seeing that his President was in deep thought, Baylis spoke up. "Mr Escalona, I think we might have to call you back. All I can say is, just stay where you are until we call you back!" he said. Kurt wasn't too happy at almost being left in the lurch but he understood. "Ok, I'll be waiting" he said as he hung up. At the White House, Heller looked all around him. He had a big choice to make.

–

23:42:10PM

 **Lublin Airport**

At the end of the runway was the MIG-29, with Jack at the controls and wearing a breathing mask attached to the controls. As he carefully went through a pre-flight checklist, Dowski was talking on his phone on the side of the runway. Covering the phone with his hand, he turned to face one of his officers who had his own radio in his left hand. "Jack, if you're gonna go, make it within the next 5 minutes. Control Tower are getting suspicious.." he said. It was a few seconds before the American replied, as he finished off the checklist. "That's fine, I'm ready to go!" he said, putting the clipboard down and pressing down on a button as the canopy lowered into position. He started up the engines as people moved off the runway and onto the grass. Outside the hangar, Romana walked out to see the runway and noticed the fighter jet. Finally, the engines reached full power and as if on cue, Dowski radioed in. " _Ok, Jack, I'd say you're ready to go._ Good luck!" he said, moving backwards and away from the potential jet blasts.

"Thank you.." the American said simply before pushing down on the throttle. The jet moved down the runway at speed before its wheels finally left the tarmac, retracting back into the plane as it flew into the sky. As the plane reached 20,000ft, Jack knew that whilst he had achieved what he needed to so far, he wasn't out of danger yet. He had to call the President.

23:44:01PM

–

18:50:10PM

 **White House**

Heller, McKaye and Baylis were all back in the Oval Office – Heller was pacing, clearly in thought over what to do. All of a sudden, the phone on his desk started ringing and Baylis, the closest person to it, answered. "Yes?" he asked. " _I'm sorry to disturb you, but it's just I have Jack Bauer on the line_ " the female voice on the other end said. The mention of Jack sent Baylis's face instantly looking towards Heller, who moved towards the desk. "Put it through.." the NSA ordered. Several seconds of dead air followed until finally.. " _Mr President!_ ", a slightly distorted and just about audible voice said. "Jack!" Heller was the first to reply, recognizing the voice immediately. " _I'm sorry for the noise, sir. I'm currently airborne and overflying European airspace, have been for at least 5 minutes_ " Jack explained as he kept the jet level.

Heller was about to reply but his eyes widened as the mention of European airspace made him realize he'd forgotten something. "Jack, I'm sorry, I completely forgot to contact one of our carriers! I've been occupied for the last 30 minutes!" he admitted. "Don't worry, sir. As long as I land on a carrier within the next hour and a half, _I'll be fine! What's happening with Flight 681?_ " Jack insisted and then asked. Heller looked up at McKaye and then Baylis. "I'm afraid we may have a problem, Jack" he said. "What kind of problem? Has something happened to Chloe?" Jack immediately asked, full of worry. " _No, no, from what I've gathered,_ Chloe's fine. But I've been in contact with someone on the plane – don't ask me how, _but the hijackers seem to have smuggled VX gas onboard!_ " Heller said. Jack's eyes widened – he knew what that was and he also knew it was probably the most deadly nerve agent in the world. " _HOW THE HELL DID THEY GET VX GAS?_ " he almost yelled, being kept a few decibels lower by the breathing mask attached to his face. Heller's insides turned – when Jack was angry, there was no stopping him and if he got angry enough, he might even be tempted to ignore the Naval carrier and just hunt down Flight 681. McKaye noticed the look of concern on his face and quickly stepped in.

"Mr. Bauer? _I'm Andrew McKaye, MI-5 agent on exchange. From what I've learnt,_ you've been involved in stopping a series of attacks on American soil. Do you have anything that might help us?" he asked. Jack sighed as he thought. "Well.. I think.. _did this person onboard the flight say where the VX gas is positioned?_ " he finally said. "Yes! He said it was positioned on the landing gear, so we can _only presume the hijackers intend to detonate the gas as soon as the landing gear has been lowered!_ " McKaye replied. Jack took in what McKaye said and a thought sprang to mind. "Does this person know if there's explosives on the plane?" he asked further. " _No.._ we did think of the idea but we're not sure if there are explosives" the Brit national replied. Whilst Jack knew that there were no explosives for all he knew but his gut feeling told him there was and he was rarely wrong when it came to this sort of thing. "There are! _Trust me, I know there isn't any evidence,_ but I have a feeling that there are explosives on that plane.." he said. Baylis was almost about to interject that he was acting on an unproven theory but Heller waded back into the conversation. "Jack, are you sure on this?" he asked. " _Positive!_ If they've got VX gas, they'll be wanting to use it to maximum capability – destroying the plane over DC airspace _will certainly be using it to maximum capability!_ " Jack insisted.

The three men knew what whilst Jack was essentially repeating what had been suggested earlier, it clearly meant the idea had some legs – Heller's condition might well be deteriorating, but he knew full well over the years that Jack was almost 100% correct when it came to this sort of thing so it would be wrong not to trust him. "Ok, Jack.. I need to make a decision but I'll contact you _as soon as I've spoken with one of the carriers_ " he said. "Very well, sir.." the former agent replied and shortly after, he was met with dead air. Inside the Oval Office, almost immediately after hanging up, Heller picked up the phone again and pressed several buttons. " _Yes, sir?_ " a male voice asked. "Griggs, I need you to get me the commander at Andrews Air Base" he replied. " _Right away, sir_ " the man known as Griggs agreed. McKaye and Baylis both looked at him with curiosity, realizing he had made his decision at long last. The seconds ticked by until finally.. " _Mr President? Commander Tanner!_ " a gruff male voice spoke. "Hello, Commander. I'm sure you've been briefed on the situation with Flight 681" Heller enquired. " _I have.._ " Tanner replied. "Well, based on recent intel, I have reached a decision. I want two fighter jets from Andrews scrambled to meet the plane..." the President replied before seemingly stopping. McKaye and Baylis waited with baited breath.

" _Sir?_ " Tanner asked, wondering why the President had stopped almost mid-sentence. Finally, Heller gave out. "Two fighter jets to meet the plane... and shoot it down!" he ordered. The stunned faces of both McKaye and Baylis said it all – they couldn't understand why Heller was effectively ordering the deaths of over 400 people. " _Yes, sir. I'll have them dispatched within the next few minutes!_ " Tanner added. "Thank you. Oh and Commander? I don't care what happens, just make sure that plane does not reach US airspace!" Heller further ordered, wanting to ensure nothing went wrong. " _Yes, Mr President.._ " Tanner replied before he hung up. As he put the phone down, Heller looked up at the bewildered faces of his N.S.A and the MI-5 exchange agent. "You're just gonna leave 400 people to their deaths?" McKaye almost spluttered. "I know what you two are thinking. I didn't like giving that order, but I have a duty to this country and I have to stop any potential threats before they can cause any damage!" he declared. "What about Kurt? What are you gonna tell him – that even if he surrenders, he's going to die?" Baylis asked.

"Nothing.. The less anyone on that plane knows, the better. It has to be a complete surprise for when those jets appear" Heller ordered. Baylis seemed to understand the point he made, but the face McKaye was making suggested he still was not happy. "Can I just say I'm 100% against your decision, sir? I'm not going to argue about it but I just thought I'd say" he decided. Heller nodded". "Very well – I'll make a note of it. In the meantime.. Brian, I need you to contact the rest of the Cabinet and let them know of my decision" he replied and then asked. Baylis nodded. "Andrew, could you locate the nearest Naval carrier to the European continent and get them in touch with Jack?" he then asked the MI-5 agent, who finally nodded in agreement. "Thank you, the two of you. You've been a real help in the last few hours, I'm not really sure how I would done on my own and in my current state" the President added. McKaye nodded and was the first to walk out – but as he did, he felt his anger boil up. He could understand why Heller was doing it but to not even warn Kurt that they were going to shoot down a plane full of innocent people? He just could not get his head around that. He had to do something, but what? He needed to find a way of warning the plane without letting Heller know. As he started to walk off down to the White House communication centre, an idea dawned.

As he looked around to ensure no-one might spy on him, he pulled his phone out and typed in a number. It rang twice before being answered. " _White House Service Board_ " a male voice enquired. "Yes, er.. The President needs the number that was used to call him from Flight 681" McKaye lied, hopeful. " _Ok, but why can't the President ask himself?_ " the male switchboard operator asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice. "He's busy right now – please, he needs it urgently!" McKaye pushed. Finally, the operator gave out. " _Very well.. I'll send it to your phone as soon as possible!_ " he agreed. "Thank you! Oh and please don't tell anyone about this – strange, I know, but please!" the Brit quickly added, wanting to cover his tracks. " _Very well_ " the operator agreed and McKaye quickly pulled his phone away from his ear, watching as a number appeared on the screen. "Thank you!" he told the operator before hanging up and dialing the number on the screen.

–

18:56:21PM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Back next to behind the elevator shaft was Kurt, who quickly noticed the ringing phone. "Hello?" he asked. " _Mr Escalona! He's Agent McKaye from the White House!_ " McKaye replied. Kurt sighed in relief. "I was wondering when _you'd get back to..._ " he started but the Brit interrupted him. "Sorry to interrupt, but I have to keep this brief as the President doesn't know about this phone-call. _He's not sending help_!" he explained. "I... don't understand" Kurt said, confusion in his voice. " _The President has just ordered for_ two fighter jets to locate Flight 681 and shoot it out of the skies!" McKaye said as quietly as possible as he stopped outside a large room. Kurt's jaw dropped in surprise. "Please tell me you're joking?" he said quietly. " _I'm afraid not..._ however, I've not just rung to tell you. I've rung to warn you – I'd say you have at least 25 minutes before the jets meet you. _You have got to retake that plane before then!_ " McKaye insisted quickly. If only he could have seen Kurt, then he would have seen the incredulous look he was giving. "How the hell do you expect me to retake the plane?" he hissed. " _I don't know.._ but if you want to give yourself a fighting chance of making it to America, I suggest you come up with something!" McKaye replied before abruptly hanging up – he had not intended to be so rude but he had to keep it brief so he wouldn't be caught out.

As he heard the dial tone, Kurt took in what he had been told – and a sudden rush of adrenaline overcame him. The hope of all the passengers and crew above him, as well as that of Chloe, Belcheck and Gabrielle and even possibly those in DC, all depended on him. He needed to find weapons and it suddenly hit him; if the hijackers had managed to smuggle weapons onto the plane, that meant they may still be some onboard! He quickly pulled off the wall panel that led to the elevator shaft and noticed it was empty – he had a clear path to the cabins! Moving quickly, he made his way through the way and scrambled out of the shaft.

–

 **European Airspace**

Whilst having been flying for about only 10 or so minutes, Jack was surprised by the speed of the MIG-29 as his flightpath planner indicated he was already overflying Prague and would probably be overflying the Bay of Biscay, which lay between the Western coast of France and the Northern coast of Spain, within the next 10 or 15 minutes. He just hoped the President would get in touch with a Naval carrier within the next hour or so – considering his dementia, he wouldn't put it past him to forget a second time. As he flew through the sky, however, he failed to notice a strange aircraft flying not too far from him. Onboard it, a large camera turned so that it was facing the MIG-29. As the camera slowly moved left so that it could identify the jet, it noticed Jack sitting in the cockpit but only just.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

In the depths of the ocean and onboard the Yuri Dolgorukiy, Krylenko was monitoring her station when a rapid beeping took place – looking up, she saw a large blue button flashing repeatedly. As she read the incoming information, her eyes widened. "GENERAL! COME DOWN HERE QUICKLY!" she yelled into her headset and before she knew it, Benediktov was coming down the stairs. "Yes?" he asked, curious. "Come have a look at this – I hijacked the video camera onboard a MQ-9 Reaper and it found this just a few seconds ago!" the Ukrainian explained. Benediktov walked over and examined the incoming intel. "This was taken over the Czech Republic airspace – don't ask me how, but it looks like Bauer eluded Eastern Cell!" Krylenko explained as Benediktov rose an eyebrow. "So our American ally was right.. send a scrambled message to Moron Air Base; looks like Ballester will be needed after all!" the General ordered. "Yes, General!" Krylenko replied before setting to work. As Benediktov moved to head back up the stairs, he muttered to himself. "Eastern Cell may have failed, Bauer, but Ballester won't!".

–

 **Moron Air Base**

In Spain, located to the South-East of Seville was Moron Air Base – not only was it a main base for the Spanish Air Force but because it was so close to the Iberian peninsula, which in turn was close to the Mediterranean and the Middle East, it was a vital link for operations moving east from the United States. And at that moment, walking down a hallway was a tall blonde woman in a United States Air Force uniform. As she gave a friendly smile to two male workers, she stopped outside a door and knocked on it. Several seconds went by, until she heard a beeping on the other side of the door which then opened to reveal a tall man who was also wearing a United States Air Force uniform. "Helen! This is a surprise.." he said, clearly taken aback by her presence. "Yeah. Basically, Higham, I've been given orders to relieve you of your watch – I'm next on the rota" the woman, known as Helen, explained. Higham rose an eyebrow in surprise. "Really? Not accusing you of lying, but I didn't think you were on the rota. Do you mind if I ask the base commander?" he enquired.

"Go ahead.." Helen insisted. Higham walked back into the room, which revealed a large control panel underneath an even larger plasma screen. On the screen was a large map with several pinging icons, indicating each of their locations which were all in places above the map of Spain. Helen waited in the doorway as Higham walked towards the panel and picked up the built-in phone. "Yes, put me through to Commander Clarke!" he requested, just as he heard a beeping and saw the door close from the corner of his eye. In confusion, he turned around, expecting to see Helen – instead, there was no-one there. Suddenly, Helen appeared from behind him and threw a white cloth over his mouth – Higham flailed about for several seconds until he finally collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Walking back over to the electronic card reader on the wall, Helen typed on it repeatedly and then slotted her ID card through it. As it made another loud beep, she walked back towards the panel and sat down on the large chair before pulling a headset from her pocket and putting it on. "I'm in! I've got access to the drones!" she spoke into it, in Spanish and with a Spanish accent. " _Right! Do you have the intel on screen?_ " Krylenko asked, also speaking in Spanish. After several seconds, a large folder-like document appeared on the screen, with the intel inside. " _Ballester, I'm sending you co-ordinates – your target is Jack Bauer! Shoot him down by any means necessary!_ " the Ukrainian ordered over the headset. "As you wish.." Ballester replied before rapidly typing on the panel keyboard.

Within seconds, one of the icons disappeared from screen before reappearing. "WARNING – GUIDANCE ICON FROM MQ-REAPER 9 DRONE #4 HAS BEEN REMOVED! PLEASE RESTABLISH!" the computer warned, but several more rapid clicks on the keyboard later and the warning was deactivated. Up in the main control tower, the icon for Drone #4 was following the same pattern as the rest of the drones but in the control room, it was being flown, by use of the panel control stick, out of Spanish airspace and seemingly towards French airspace. Ballester gave a dark smile as she momentarily looked up at the icon overflying the airspace of the Czech Republic – no doubt, that icon was the MIG-29 being flown by Jack Bauer. "You're not out of danger yet, Bauer – you still have to get past me!" she declared. 

00:00:00AM


	9. 9: 12am - 1am (EST)

HELLO! I've finally got Hour 9 finished! Please don't kill me for being so late, but please do review and rate - I'll get Hour 10 up as soon as possible, just as soon as I start it! Enjoy... 

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

* * *

9: 12am – 1am (EST)

 **The following takes place between 12am and 1am, European Standard Time:**

–

00:00:01AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Shortly after making his way out of the elevator shaft, Kurt had carefully snuck into each of the cabins, hoping to find any signs that any one of them had been used to store weapons. After checking the cabins before his own and finding nothing, he turned his attention to the cabin one place down from his own – to his surprise and slight suspicion, it was locked. Which indicated this might be it. Quickly looking left and right, he pulled his cabin keycard out of his pocket and slid it into the gap between the door and the doorframe. After several attempts, he finally got the door unlocked. Quickly moving into the cabin, he picked up one of the two phones and turned on the flashlight app so he could see in the dark cabin. Almost immediately, he found something suspicious under the bed – walking over to it, he knelt down and pulled out a large suitcase, similar to the ones that had been loaded up by Avram and Golea prior to take-off.

As he opened the suitcase up, he was almost taken aback at what he had seen – a detachable gun with several magazines and a smoke grenade. From a second look under the bed, he couldn't find any more suitcases so it was most likely this was it. He looked back at the phone and checked the time; it was two minutes past midnight EST, he had another 13 minutes before he had to surrender or risk countless deaths at the hands of Hermann. He had to act now if he was going to stop any more deaths – at least, that of the hostages. Grabbing the gun and wrapping the magazines around his waist, he placed the grenade in his shirt and headed back out to the elevator.

–

 **European Airspace**

Looking over at the flightpath instruments, Jack noticed he was now out of the Czech Republic airspace and overflying Southern Germany – if he continued flying along this straight route, he would be over the Bay of Biscay within the next 15 minutes or so. As he kept the controls level, he noticed the radio buzzing – pressing down on the red button, he spoke into it. "This is Bauer!" he said. " _Mr Bauer, it's Agent McKaye_ " the British MI-5 agent replied over the radio. From last talking with the President, Jack knew who he was. "What can I do for you?" he asked, not keeping his eyes off the sky. " _I've been in contact with Naval carriers near the European continent and I've found a carrier you can land on!_ Whereabouts are you overflying at the minute?" McKaye asked. Jack briefly looked at the flightpath instruments. "At the minute, I'm not too far off Munich airspace – _I should be clearing Europe and overflying the Bay of Biscay within the next 15 or so minutes_ " he was essentially repeating what he had been thinking mere seconds ago, but he was confident he'd be overflying the ocean soon – then he would be around possibly two to five hours away from American soil.

"Right, ok.. _Well, I've spoken with the Admiral of the CVN Harry S. Truman – at the minute, they're in the North Atlantic Ocean, about halfway between the East coast of America and the Portuguese coast._ If you can reach them within the next 50 minutes _, they'll be more than happy to let you land and then you'll be escorted by helicopter to DC later on_!" McKaye explained. As he finished, Jack sighed in relief – at least he wouldn't have to fly for longer than he needed to do. "Thanks. Also, _what's the latest on Flight 681?_ " he asked. Silence followed for quite a few seconds as the MI-5 agent put his spare hand on his forehead – how was he going to explain this?" " _McKaye?_ " he heard Jack speak again. "I'm afraid the President... he gave the order for Flight 681 to be shot down!" he finally said. Jack could not believe what he had heard. "I'm sorry, SHOT DOWN? _Please tell me you're joking!_ " he almost yelled back and the MI-5 agent almost had to cover his phone so that no-one else could hear him yell. "Look, _don't tell anyone this but it's covered_. I've got in touch with our contact on the flight and I've given him prior warning – I'd say he has about 20 or so minutes!" he explained. Jack rose an eyebrow at what the British agent had told him – why would he do that?

"I don't follow" he said finally. " _Let's just say that whilst I respect your President, Jack,_ I can't just sit by and watch as he orders the death of 400 innocent people. _At least alerting someone on that plane gives them a fighting chance_ " McKaye explained. Jack knew that whilst the overall logic was debatable, he did have a point – with both Chloe and Belcheck on that plane, if he was in the shoes of the MI-5 agent, he would have probably contacted someone on that plane to warn them. "Ok. Well, I appreciate you letting me know. I'll contact the President as soon as I land on the carrier" he simply said before hanging up. His grip on the jet's controls tightened; he could only hope that this person that McKaye had warned on the plane could successfully stop the hijackers. He then looked out at the clear night sky – apart from a few clouds, the sky was perfectly clear. But little did he know that above him in the clouds, he was being tracked. Hidden in the cloud directly behind him.. was a drone. The same drone that had had its feed hijacked by Krylenko on the Yuri Dolgorukiy and it was still following him.

–

00:09:43AM

 **Moron Air Base**

Monitoring the feed was Ballester, as she carefully steered the drone over the south of France and up towards the West coast. The two signal icons of both the attack drone and Jack's plane flew closer and closer together. As her eyes switched between the feed and ensuring the drone icon did not move off-route, she noticed her phone vibrating and pressed down on a button on the left side of her headset. "Hola" she said, expecting to be talking with either Benediktov or Krylenko. " **Hello, Ballester** " a gruff female voice spoke and the Spaniard's eyebrows rose. "Ms... Ms Dimitrijevic! I wasn't.." she said in reply, only to be interrupted. " **Expecting to hear from me? I can understand that** " the Serb replied. Quickly looking around, Ballester took a few seconds to respond. "Are we on a clear line? Does anyone know about us?" she asked. " **We're fine. The line is clear. No-one on my end is aware of this** " Dimitrijevic insisted.

"Not even...?" Ballester asked further, clearly unsure at something. " **No. Not even him** " the calm reply came. The Spaniard gave a slight sigh. "Ok, that's a relief" she said simply. " **Are you in position?** " the Serb asked next, getting straight to the point. "Yes, I'm currently in the control room – I've got control of one of the drones and am flying it after Bauer as per my instructions.." came the reply from Ballester, who was completely unaware that Higham was stirring behind her. " **That's good, but don't get too distracted. Benediktov is eventually going to find out your real loyalties and this has to go according to plan if we're going to distract the President!** " Dimitrijevic warned sternly. "I appreciate that, Ma'am and I'm ready for that; the explosives are in place and should anyone on base find out about me.." Ballester insisted. Higham may have been still a bit drowsy from being knocked out, but his hearing capability was clearly working as he managed to hear the words "explosives" and "anyone on base". His eyes widened – what was this woman planning to do?

" **Excellent. I have faith in you, Ballester. Make sure you don't mess this up** " the Serbian woman added before hanging up. Ballester looked back up at the flightpath navigator – the drone and the jet were closer still. It looked like there wasn't long to go until they met. As the Spaniard moved the control gearstick to the right, Higham looked up at her and then at himself. He had to warn central control without giving himself away to Ballester.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Onboard Flight 681, a lone gunman walked down the plane aisle, through economy class and past the area containing the elevator.

"DING!"

As if on cue, the doors opened, which attracted the attention of the gunman – his eyes rose in surprise as he saw the doors wide open. He'd been passing it a few times in the last ten minutes and if a fellow cell member had planned to go down to the cabins, he would have been told. He slowly walked towards the open doors and looked in.. which was his last ever act as Kurt pulled out one of the smaller guns and fired two silenced shots into his head. The gun-man fell to the floor as Kurt emerged, looking both left and right to ensure no other gun-man was in the area. It was now or never for everyone.

00:12:01PM

–

19:15:42PM

 **Washington DC**

"Alright, thank you" Heller spoke into his phone before hanging up. He looked up at Baylis. "The fighter jets have Flight 681 on their radar – they'll be in sight of each other in the next 10 minutes" he confirmed. The NSA nodded though his face suggested he wasn't too happy – Heller noticed. "I know you think I've made the wrong choice, Brian, but I've got to think about the people of this country first. I'm sure you'd probably be thinking the same thing if you were in my shoes" he insisted and though he still wasn't convinced by what his commander-in-chief was saying, he simply nodded in understanding.

Heller looked around the room and gave a look of confusion. "Where's McKaye? I thought he'd be back by now" he asked, literally just before the MI-5 agent burst into the Oval Office. "Sorry, sir! Sorting out the naval carrier for Jack to land on took longer than I thought – but it's done now" he explained, apologetic in his tone of voice.

Heller rose an eyebrow at the explanation but said nothing. "I've just heard from the fighter jets – they're about 10 minutes from meeting Flight 681.." he explained. "So... there's still time?" McKaye said hopefully. Baylis looked at him, having also risen an eyebrow. "It's possible, but unlikely" he said, suspicion in his voice. Finally, McKaye sensed the suspicion. "What, you think I told this guy on Flight 681? Mr President, I may be vocal in my disagreement on your decision but I would NEVER go against you on this!" he lied through his teeth, feigning anger. Silence fell as he glared at the two men – finally, Heller shook his head. "You're right, McKaye. I didn't mean to suspect you – and with regard to your question, there is still time. Not much, but still time none-the-less" he said apologetically. McKaye nodded before looking upwards.

–

 **American Airspace**

In the few minutes following Kurt returning to the top levels of the plane, Flight 681 had entered American airspace. But that was all that had really happened as Kurt scanned the surrounding areas one last time. He had to draw as many hijackers in as he possibly could, he thought to himself, as he pulled the smoke grenade from his shirt. With a deep breath, he pulled the pin out and threw the grenade – it stopped right next to the frame covering the entry into the front economy seats and within seconds, smoke started billowing out. Quickly moving backwards, he walked back into the open elevator, where the dead hijacker lay and waited.

The scent and sight of smoke quickly got the attention of the passengers and their surprised shouts got the attention of two hijackers further down the plane – one of them ran down the aisle, forcing his way past a few passengers who were standing up to investigate. As the gun-man slowly edged forward towards the elevator, Kurt also edged forward and just about caught the outline of the gun-man. He moved forward and raised his gun, firing two shots in quick succession – the gun-man had no chance, taking both bullets and staggering backwards, dead. As hostages recoiled in shock, the second gun-man charged forward. Little did either Kurt or the gun-man know, however, that two other gun-men were headed towards the smoke-filled area. As the lone gun-man slowly made his way through the smoke, his gun became visible to Kurt – what then followed, no-one expected as the young American charged forward and threw himself at the gun-man. As the two tussled, perhaps the only advantage was that because of the smoke, neither of the two other gun-men could see what was happening – as they moved forward, guns pointing upwards, Kurt finally started to overpower his opponent and grabbed his gun whilst he was still holding onto it. Finally, he pulled on the trigger.

The sound of gun-shots was heard all throughout the plane as bullets went flying into the two gun-men, who both fell dead. As this happened, everyone in the cockpit were caught off-guard by the sounds of the gun – Hermann in particular, as he grabbed his radio. "AVRAM!" he yelled into it. " _I HEARD!_ GOING TO INVESTIGATE!" the Romanian yelled back as he charged through first-class and down the stairs, followed by Jelavic and another gun-man, whilst two others made their way up from the lower levels. As this was happening, Kurt was involved in a wrestling battle with the gun-man, the gun having been knocked out the immediate research of both men. Finally, just as Avram rounded the corner, Kurt managed to get the gun-man into a head-lock and forced his neck roughly to the right, snapping it and instantly killing him. However, Avram was now mere inches from him and had his gun raised – or at least, it was close to raised as just as Kurt turned his head to see the Romanian, one of his fellow gun-men were pulled backwards by two passengers and forced forwards, sending the other two men flying and enabling Kurt to reach for the gun. In one fell swoop, he managed to shoot and kill Jelavic, before firing the last bullet into Avram's leg.

As the Romanian feel into the floor in pain, he released the grip on his gun and it landed next to Kurt's head – he noticed the same two passengers holding the last gun-man in a death-grip. He threw the gun to a young woman. "Shoot any other hijacker if you see them!" he ordered as he sprang to his feet and ran down the aisle, intending to head up towards the cockpit. Behind him, however, he heard two more gun-shots and quickly turned, fearing the worst, before noticing the presence of two more gun-men – one had been shot dead and the other shot in the foot and surrounded by passengers. Doing a quick count, Kurt realized that nearly all the hijackers were dead or captured. Only Hermann remained.

–

00:19:45AM

"Hello! Avram, come in! Avram, what's going on?" Hermann said in a demanding voice. No response came and the German put his head into his hands in frustration. Chloe shared a look with Belcheck, hope in her eyes. Finally, there came a slam on the door. "Hermann! We need help!" a gruff male voice said, though it sounded rather strange – it sounded like someone was trying to speak in another accent and was speaking a foreign language, but they weren't even trying to cover up the fact the accent almost sounded American. Perplexed, Hermann slowly walked towards the door and felt around his holster to ensure his gun was there. As he unlocked the door and opened it, he was instantly forced backwards and almost to on top of Chloe by an angry Kurt. Hermann instinctively moved for his gun as he tried desperately to push back the American. However, being slightly younger, Kurt quickly gained the advantage and with one almighty swing of his arms, he slammed Hermann into the wall and he collapsed to the floor. But in that same instance, he managed to fire his gun. It just barely missed Captain Black and hit the radio – with a slight crash, it then flew apart. As Belcheck instinctively rose up to keep an eye on Hermann, Black inspected the damage as Chloe took several deep breathes in relief. "Damn it, the radio's completely buggered!" the Captain swore in frustration.

Kurt's eyes rose in shock as he realized. "That means we won't be able to stop them!" he said with horror in his tone of voice. Chloe looked up in confusion. "Won't be able to stop who?" she asked. "I've been in contact with someone in the White House. The President has ordered for this plane to be shot down in the next few minutes!" came the rapid response and Black looked at him, the colour having more than drained from his face. "Please tell me you're joking..." he begged. Kurt sadly shook his head. "How long do we have?" Chloe was next to ask. "About five minutes! We need to find something, ANYTHING that can tell the fighter jets to call off the attack!" the young American responded, as he desperately started looking around the cockpit. "What about among the passengers? I'd ask over the intercom but..." Black responded rather quickly, realizing time was very much of the essence. Chloe looked out of the cockpit entrance and towards the passengers. "I'll go ask around.." she said and she started to walk out. "There's no time, Chloe! The jets will be on top of us before you've even looked on this level of the plane!" Kurt insisted, deep breathes of worry now overcoming him. Chloe turned around to face him. "We HAVE to try!" she made it clear. Finally, after several seconds, Kurt knelt down to right next to Hermann and picked up his gun, handing it to the former analyst. "Be as quick as you can – I'm not sure if all the hijackers are dead, but if they're not, take this in case" he explained.

Chloe almost eyed the gun up in surprise before she finally took it and ran out of the cockpit.

–

 **Moron Air Base**

Having spent the last 20 minutes or so with a stony look on her face, Ballester finally gave herself a smug smile. "Almost on top of you, Bauer" she said to herself, completely unaware that Higham was now conscious – he daren't move his body too much but he had to alert his commanding officer. He turned his body slightly so that he could look at the screen and an idea came to mind. He had a friend on speed-dial that worked for the commanding officer and if he could somehow use him to alert those in high command...

Slowly pulling his phone out of his pocket, he turned the sound off and logged in, moving towards the speed-dial option. Clicking on a name that read "Visitor", he activated the option of video-chat and turned it to face the large screen – by now, the hijacked drone was just inches away from Jack or at least, on the screen it was.

–

 **European Airspace**

In the approximately 20 minutes since he'd spoken to McKaye, Jack had overflown French airspace and was now almost past the Bay of Biscany. Now he was very nearly out of Europe's airspace, he probably needed to contact the Harry S. Truman. To the left of the jet and running almost silently through the clouds was the attack drone – it had finally tracked down the American and was almost on top of him. Inside the jet, Jack had turned on the radio and waited a few seconds, moving the transceiver until he found the right frequency. "This is Jack Bauer calling the CVN Harry Truman; I repeat, this is Jack Bauer calling the CVN Harry S. Truman" he spoke into the radio. Silence. Jack was about to try again, when he noticed something strange – the flightpath instrument was now registering two icons. And the second one was almost to the immediate south-west of the jet's icon. Something was off.

–

00:22:31AM

 **Moron Air Base**

Inside the main control room, the atmosphere was pretty quiet – nothing was much out of the ordinary as the commander watched over several operatives giving orders to soldiers outside. Suddenly, further back, a young male operative felt his pocket vibrating and pulled his phone out – on the screen read "Higham, Video Call". The operative was the person known as "Visitor" who sighed before looking all around him and clicking "accept". He was about to speak when he noticed that he was looking at the main control panel and the plasma screen. "What the..." he said in a quiet voice before the phone direction changed so that it was now looking down at Higham's head. He put his finger to his lips as so to signal to not say anything, before mouthing the numbers "seven", "zero" and "eight". Visitor mouthed the numbers himself before realizing that Base Room 708 was the main hub for watching and controlling the drones. He looked back at the phone as Higham started moving his hands about and making signals which the young operative recognized as indicating "drone", "hijacked" and "help".

Realizing what was being motioned, Visitor rose from his seat and rushed over to the most senior officer in the room. He wanted to shout to him but then he realized he couldn't make a sound, so he just signaled to him frantically. The officer, shown by his insignia as a Brigadier-General, saw Visitor frantically signaling and watched him run to him with a look of complete confusion on his face. But before the Brigadier could ask, Visitor showed him the live feed on the phone, which was still looking directly at Higham – the moment the Brigadier was looking, Higham moved the phone so it was looking back up at the plasma screen; and now, the drone was almost completely covering Jack's fighter jet. The Brigadier-General looked up in confusion. "But the plasma screen in here says that all the drones are..." he started before stopping. He walked towards an operative. "Refresh the plasma screen" he ordered her. She looked up at him with a face of confusion. "Just do it.." he ordered again, this time more sternly. At that, the operative refreshed the plasma screen. It turned off for a few seconds and when it came back on, Visitor noticed something – the drone icons were one short than from when the screen had been turned on. The Brigadier-General, realization dawning, grabbed the phone and noticed that Ballester was getting ready to fire. "We have a rogue drone! Red alert!" he yelled out to everyone in the room.

Thankfully, the sound had been muted on the phone so whilst Higham got an idea of what was happening, Ballester was still unaware. But then she did become aware as a loud alarm started to sound throughout the air base and in the control room, there was one alarm above the plasma screen. The moment it went off, Ballester was completely caught off-guard and bungled her intended shot...

–

 **European Airspace**

...and because of her bungling, instead of the drone firing the first missile almost silently, the whole drone veered off to the side before coming back into line with the fighter jet. And Jack saw it. As the missile finally launched, it dawned on the American. "DAMN IT!" he swore as he pushed the flight controls downwards and the jet flew straight downwards, towards the ocean. He heard the missile explode above him and he started to level out the jet.

–

 **American Airspace**

The two fighter jets dispatched to shoot down Flight 681 were flying at speed through the night sky. There was no immediate sight of the Airbus plane and nothing was coming up on their radar. "Anything on your side, Davis?" one of the pilots asked the other. " _Negative, Marriner. Radar seems clear... oh wait, HANG ON!_ " the second pilot, known as Davis, started but then suddenly stopped with a radar pinging in the background. At the same time, the radar on Marriner's jet started pinging. Another icon had appeared on-screen and Marriner looked ahead, picking up a pair of binoculars to his side. Indeed, ahead of them in the distance and coming towards them was Flight 681. "Move in closely, Davis. We'll have a go-around of the plane and shoot from behind" Marriner ordered as he held firmly onto the controls and pushed them forward for more speed.

Onboard Flight 681, meanwhile, Chloe ran back into the cockpit and holding something white and folded up. "I think I got something!" she said as she unfolded the white object to reveal a flare gun. Black almost did a double-take at seeing it. "But... how the hell...?" he stuttered, surprised that it was found so quickly – flare guns were only allowed to be taken on planes if there were in checked luggage and were stored in the cargo. "I found it in the overhead luggage compartment; looks like it belonged to one of the hijackers!" Chloe explained as Kurt sprung up to investigate. "Where's Belcheck?" she added, having noticed he wasn't in the cockpit. "He's dealing with Hermann" Black added as Kurt picked up the gun. "Ok, we have a means of letting the jets know but where can we fire it where they can see but we won't damage the plane?" Kurt asked. Black thought for a moment. "Fire the gun at the wheel well doors – I'll open them up for you and you can fire below us" he declared before switching a button on the panel. Below the plane, he wheel well doors that were below the wheels with the VX gas opened up. As Belcheck walked back into the cockpit, Black continued speaking. "Ok, they're opened up but I'll give you 90 seconds – one of you needs to get down there NOW!" he explained, knowing time was of the essence.

Within an instance, Kurt grabbed the gun and ran out of the cockpit, pushing past Belcheck. "KURT!" Chloe yelled, but as he continued running, she instead turned to Belcheck. "Go after him, he'll need back-up" she explained – the Serb didn't need telling twice as he ran in the same direction Kurt had gone in.

Outside, the two jets flew closer and closer to the plane – in fact, they were flying so fast that the whole of Marriner's craft was rattling; any faster and it might fly apart, even. At their speed, they were about 40 seconds away from the front of the plane. In the cockpit, Chloe was first to notice. "Oh no.." she said quietly, but loud enough for Black to look up and see for himself. Any hopes that the plane had now lay with Kurt and Belcheck. Speaking of which, the two were now lowering themselves into the belly of the plane, which was made harder by the fact that because of the open wheel well door, there was a lot of blustery air from outside rolling around the area. But eventually, they made it down and towards the open door. The two exchanged a look, knowing that one slip-up could result in the plane being destroyed. Kurt, with the gun in his hand, moved his arms upwards so that he was in a shooting position whilst Belcheck held onto his right shoulder to ensure he didn't fall out of the plane. By now, the jets were literal metres from the front of the plane. "Prepare the missiles" Marriner said over the radio to Davis. The jets rocketed past the plane, with the passengers watching as they flew past. Finally, Kurt got the gun at the right angle.

At first, he showed signs of hesitation but finally... he fired. Had Belcheck not been behind him, there was a chance he would have lost his balance and probably fallen out of the plane but because the Serb was holding onto his shoulder, both kept their balance. Outside, Davis was lining up his jet to fire and preparing to lock on target when he noticed something come out of the bottom of the plane. He looked downwards to see what looked like a green flare, which then exploded. Raising an eyebrow, he then realized – in the military, if there was a green flare of sorts, it probably meant that the danger was over! "Hold off a minute, Marriner! _Something's up!_ " he explained as he started to move the jet forward and flying it to the right of the cockpit. Within the plane, the wheel well door was closing up and both Kurt and Belcheck were heading back into the cabin, their mission accomplished. In the cockpit, Chloe noticed the jet. "Look!" she exclaimed and Black looked up as Davis moved his jet as close as he could to the exterior of the cockpit. Once he was in position, he looked towards his radio. He had a feeling 681's radio wasn't working which would explain the silence, so he hoped to contact them another way.

As he looked into the cockpit, he started to signal with his hands. "What's... he doing?" Chloe asked and Black realized what the hand signals meant. "That's... that's sign language!" he said and he watched it vigorously. "He's asking us.. "Report status. Explain green flare"" he said and he started to signal back. "I'm responding with "plane secure, radio damaged, green flare was launched to stop you" the Captain explained. Realizing what was meant, Davis spoke into his radio. "Marriner, get the White House on the phone! _Flight 681 is safe, the danger's over!_ " he yelled. "You're sure?" Marriner responded. "YES! I'll contact base, let them know" Davis insisted. He then signaled to say "Confirmed. Contacting White House" as if to say to Black and Chloe that they had nothing to worry about. Chloe gave a sigh of relief, happy that the danger was over. As Belcheck came back in, Chloe just looked at him and enveloped him in a huge hug – he looked towards Black for details. "It worked! The jet pilots know we're not in danger!" he explained. Kurt overheard this and his first instinct was to grab the intercom that was just outside of the cockpit – the passengers deserved to know. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention please..." he said, giving himself a smile for the first time in hours.

00:28:04AM

–

00:31:53AM

 **European Airspace**

Ever since he'd spotted the drone, Jack had done everything in his power to avoid being targeted – but no matter where he went, the drone followed. On the bright side, if there was one, the drone's pilot (whoever it was to him) had not been able to line up another missile shot at the jet. That was better than nothing.

–

 **Moron Air Base**

Outside Base Room 708, several armed soldiers were marching up to the main door very quickly as the Brigadier-General and Visitor followed. Inside, Ballester was still focusing on the drone – she had checked very briefly on Higham and believed him to be still unconscious before deciding the red alert was nothing to do with her and refocusing on shooting down Bauer. However, what she didn't know was that Higham was very much conscious and was in fact keeping an eye on her. The moment he was sure she was not looking, he retrieved the phone from his sleeve and was relieved to see that it hadn't ended the video call, as he was looking directly at Visitor. Visitor signaled to him to indicate he needed to identify who was piloting the drone – after finally understanding what was being asked of him, he started to spell out Ballester's name. He was momentarily interrupted by the Spanish operative yelling and cursing at the screen, presumably because she had again tried to shoot down the thing she was chasing and failing, but he managed to spell out the letters T, E and R.

"E... R... Sir, that's Ballester! She was supposed to take over from Higham about over an hour ago!" Visitor revealed. The Brigadier-General's eyes narrowed. "I see.. end the call, tell Higham we'll have him out soon" he ordered. Visitor nodded and he signaled to Ballester to hold on tight before ending the call and ordering two soldiers to set up something on the metal door.

–

 **European Airspace**

Through a combination of careful maneuvers, Jack had so far managed to stop the drone from being able to even launch one of its five remaining missiles. But he knew that he couldn't keep this up forever, much like with the Polish Air Lines flight – but at least with this jet, he could afford to be more risky and not feel like he could fly it apart at any moment. Keeping an eye on the radar, he noticed the drone was now behind the icon that was the jet; it was lining up another attempt. "No you don't..." Jack whispered and he pushed the controls of the jet down and the fighter plunged towards the ocean. The drone gave chase in the same direction and Ballester, through the control room, fired another missile. Timing his instincts, Jack kept flying towards before suddenly pulling up – the plane just avoided hitting the water but the missile just kept going downwards until it hit the ocean-bed and exploded, sending a geyser of water into the air.

As Jack began to level out the jet, a thought came to mind – if he could contact the Harry S. Truman, he could get some form of backup in dealing with the drone. He reached for the radio and kept moving the transceiver. "This is Jack Bauer calling the CVN Harry S. Truman, please respond! I am in need of air assistance!" he spoke into it desperately.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Several miles down the ocean was the Harry S. Truman. And in the carrier's control room, Jack's voice was heard. " _CVN Truman, this is Jack Bauer! Please respond!_ " the main radio buzzed to life and its operator instantly recognized the name. "ADMIRAL, IT'S BAUER!" he yelled towards a tall, well-uniformed Admiral who instantly turned his head at the mention of Jack's surname and walked towards the operator, signaling with his hand to give him the radio handset.

–

 **European Airspace**

As Jack heard nothing but dead air, he started to wonder if the Truman had even been contacted. Until finally.. " _Mr Bauer?_ " a gruff voice asked. Jack instantly responded. "YES, it's me!". " _Admiral Woodhouse. The White House_ said you'd be in contact – whereabouts are you?" the Admiral asked him. Jack looked back at the radar. "I'm 270 degrees to the south-west of England. But that's also not why I'm calling – _I need assistance_!" he added, keeping an eye on the drone as he spoke. "What kind of assistance?" Woodhouse inquired. "Aerial! I'm being persued by an attack drone – _I'd say it's got four missiles left and I can't_ keep flying like this!" Jack responded. Woodhouse's eyes rose. An attack drone? But the only military base near to Jack's location was Moron Air Base; that was US-operated! "Roger that, Mr Bauer. I can get fighters near your location in... the next ten minutes!" he confirmed, checking his own radar. " _Ok, but be quick!_ And just in case, dispatch a helicopter with the fighters!" Jack agreed and added in. Woodhouse rose an eyebrow once again. "Any reason as to the helicopter?" he asked. There was a bit of dead air before Jack finally responded. "...just in case I need to bail out" he said before hanging up.

Woodhouse pressed down on a red button on the wall, which activated a carrier-wide alarm. Grabbing the tanoy, he made his order. "This is Admiral Woodhouse. Fighter jets #CharlieBravo and #Foxtrot and _Helicopter G4 are to be dispatched immediately. Co-ordinates will be relayed when in the air_ " he ordered as the activity on top of the carrier sprung to life.

–

19:37:19AM

 **White House**

Heller was concerned – he should have heard from the base commander or at least the two fighter jets about ten minutes ago. But there had been nothing. "Perhaps there's a technical fault" McKaye reasoned. "Or if something HAD happened to the pilots, we probably would have known by now" Baylis added. Heller was about to respond when the phone on the desk suddenly started to ring. Heller instantly moved for it. "This is Heller" he said. " _Hello, Mr President!_ I have good news – Flight 681 has been retaken, **it is no longer under terrorist control!** " Marriner spoke into his radio with a smile. Heller's eyes rose in surprise. "How.. I... I don't understand!" he spluttered. " _I don't know myself, sir, but_ all we know is that everyone is safe. We're gonna fly them back to DC airspace!" the fighter pilot explained and relayed calmly.

Heller's surprise quickly turned to slowly-realizing delight. "Alright, thank you, son! Take care" he said as he put the phone down. McKaye got up, curious to what was going on. "Flight 681 has been re-taken – I don't know the details but it looks like the hijackers have been defeated!" he explained to both men, who shared looks of surprise and delight. Of course, both the President and Baylis had no idea that McKaye had discreetly contacted Kurt and alerted him to the fighter jets heading towards them, but he figured that was no longer important – he'd ordered the switchboard operator to remain silent after all. "If Kurt did survive, we should hopefully be hearing from him or someone on the plane.." the President added and as if on cue, McKaye's phone rang. Baylis looked up at the standing MI-5 agent in surprise, who then pulled his phone out and looked at the number – it was Kurt. McKaye's insides turned, as Heller would want to know why Kurt was ringing on his phone. Which meant that he'd click that McKaye had gone against his orders. Opening up the phone, he spoke into it. "Hello" he said, a bit uneasily. " _Hey! We're okay –_ thank you for alerting us _!_ " Kurt said, as he walked through the cabin and saw all the relieved faces of passengers and crew.

McKaye couldn't help but smile at hearing his voice. "Would you mind if the President spoke to you?" he suddenly said, hoping Kurt would get the slight message and not bring up the fact he had contacted him earlier. " _Not at all – put him on!_ " the American said and McKaye handed the phone to Heller. "Mr Escalona!" he said. " _Mr President!_ " Kurt replied, keeping it simple until the President requested more details. "What's the status of _the passengers and crew?_ " Heller asked, whilst Kurt walked through the aisles of seats. "All good – apart from the few crew-members that had been executed by Hermann, _everyone is accounted for_ " Kurt replied, as he knew that thankfully none of the passengers had been killed. "And the hijackers?" Heller replied. " _Nearly all of them are dead –_ we've got Hermann, his second-in-command and two others in our custody" Kurt explained, having done a headcount of both the survivors and the bodies. "And what about yourself? _You feeling ok_?" now Heller turned his attention to Kurt's own well-being. "I've been better but I'm alright – and before you ask, _Chloe's alright and so is Belcheck_ " he said, changing the subject but only just, seeing as Heller had inquired about Chloe earlier on. "That's great to hear, son – would you mind _if I could talk to Chloe?_ " came the President's reply. "Of course, bare with me... CHLOE!" Kurt said before calling out to her as she was just outside the cockpit. As she turned to notice, he walked a bit further forward before throwing the phone – despite having not so much time to react, she caught it.

"Hello?" she asked. " _Chloe, hello!_ " Heller greeted, relieved to hear her voice. "Mr President!" Chloe tried to mask her surprise but she couldn't – she was not really expecting to speak with the President. "How you holding up?" he asked, knowing full well that Chloe had not been in a good place the last few years and that the hijacking must have caused some grief. " _I'm doing alright – I'm just_ happy it's over. _And sir... I'm really sorry about Audrey_ " she admitted before stopping; she knew full well that if she started on a touchy subject like this, she wouldn't stop and would say something a bit heartless so it was surprising she managed to just stop there. Heller gave an internal sigh. "Thank you, honey. But that wasn't really the reason _I wanted to talk to you.._ " he said, grateful for the condolences but also trying to change the subject. After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke. "...I've been in contact with Jack". Chloe froze, taken aback with shock. "How... _how is he?_ " she asked. "He's fine, don't worry.. _in fact, he's on his way to Washington as we speak_ " Heller assured her. "But... I don't understand. _I saw the Russians take him – Belcheck saw the Russians take him!_ How could he have escaped?" Chloe replied, overcome with both confusion and emotion. " _I don't know,_ all I do know is he's just spent the last few hours trying to get out of Russia" he replied.

McKaye stopped – Russia? Heller hadn't said anything about Jack being in Russia, just the Ukraine. Never-the-less, Chloe took it as fact as she gave a complete sigh of relief. "Thank you, Mr President. Do you know where he is exactly?" she asked. " _Not quite.._ last I heard, he was overflying European airspace. I can try and find out for you" he started but was quickly cut off by a White House aide coming into the room with a sheet of paper. He quickly unfolded it and read its message: "Bauer under attack. Apparently a drone. Reinforcements from the Truman sent, no contact from Moron Base". " _Mr President?_ " Heller was suddenly called out by a concerned Chloe – he had to lie for her sake. "Sorry, Chloe. From when I last spoke to him, Jack was somewhere over France" he spluttered out. Chloe was a bit unsure by this but said nothing. "Ok" she said – she knew he had dementia and whilst she was relieved to hear Jack was ok, she was a bit worried that Heller's condition had impacted his mind and whether he was telling the truth about her only friend. "Listen, I'm gonna put you in touch _with one of my aides before you land – I think I'm gonna need your help_.." Heller added. Chloe rose an eyebrow. "Ok; what are you gonna need help with, sir?" she asked. " _I'll let my aide do all the talking – it's a_ bit complicated to explain right now" came the reply.

Chloe thought about it for a second – she wasn't too sure on whether she should help the government, especially after what happened in New York, but she just couldn't leave Heller in the lurch. "Ok, whatever it is" she agreed. " _Thank you, Chloe._ My aide will be in touch, he'll contact you through Mr Escalona" the President said before hanging up. He looked down at the sheet of paper. "Jack's apparently under attack. From a drone several miles off the Spanish coast" he finally said. Baylis gave a look of confusion. "But the only base that uses attack drones in Europe is Moron Air Base – that's..." he started. "US owned, I know. That's what doesn't make sense. Apparently, the Harry S. Truman has tried to contact them but they've heard nothing.." he said, looking out of his window. What was going on in Spain?

–

 **European Airspace**

About 5 or so minutes from the Truman, two fighter jets sped through the sky, followed by a US-owned Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawk search-and-rescue helicopter. Further down the ocean, Jack pulled the Mig-29 out of its dive and levelled it out as yet another missile from the drone missed it's target and exploded in mid-air.

–

00:42:15AM

 **Moron Air Base**

Ballester cursed under her breath again as the missile exploded, having missed Jack altogether; she had used up another missile in trying to stop him and now had only two left. She was completely unaware that outside the room, explosives had been secured onto the metal door and everyone was standing back as the Brigadier-General was handed the detonator. "The moment the door goes, charge in. Do not hesitate" he ordered. "Yes, sir" the men agreed. He opened up the detonator. "And... now!" he slammed down on the button and the explosives blew the door wide open – Ballester had chosen that moment to line up another shot, but the impact caused her to bungle her shot up and she fired prematurely.

–

 **European Airspace**

Having heard the missile launch, Jack performed the same evasive manoeuvres as before – but because of the bungling on Ballester's part, the missile actually launched earlier than expected and as Jack levelled out, the missile exploded in mid-air... and shrapnel actually managed to hit the fuel tank. Alerts came to life in the cockpit and Jack realized what was happening. Instinctively, he pulled back and allowed the drone to get closer to him.

–

 **Moron Air Base**

Within mere seconds of the door being blown open, Ballester fell in front of her chair in the hopes of playing dead – as the soldiers stormed in, they noticed Higham on the floor and he moved his body so he could see them. "You alright, Higham?" Visitor asked. "Yeah... thank you, sir! I think you stopped her before she could launch the last missile on the drone!" Higham said, speaking to the Brigadier-General whilst referring to the seemingly-unconscious Ballester. "Well, that's the main thing. Get her up and take her to interrogation" the senior officer ordered two soldiers. "YES SIR!" one of them replied and he moved to pick up Ballester. However, the moment he had lifted her upper body clear of the control panel, she opened her eyes and wrestled the gun from his hands before slamming him away and slamming down on the missile controls.

At that moment, the missile was launched... just as Jack released the main fuel tank – the tank fell back and slammed into the missile. What followed was a massive explosion that sent the jet flying from the shock-waves and also destroyed the drone completely; the jet started to pick up speed as it headed towards the ocean and Jack found himself losing control. "Come on! Come on!" he yelled, to no avail. Realizing what was about to happen, he flicked a switch and the canopy of the jet was jettisoned. Finally pushing down on a lever, he grabbed the flare gun and waited what was just a split-second as the seat was propelled out of the plane and into the air. As the parachute flew out and into the air, Jack watched as the jet slammed into the ocean and exploded on impact. Jack released himself from the seat and flew into the air through the parachute as he got closer and closer to the water. He landed on the water safely and instantly made his way to a piece of wreckage he could hold on to.

–

 **Moron Air Base**

The moment Ballester fired the last missile, two soldiers fired all their bullets into her body. But what was surprising was that she didn't instantly fall down – instead, she slowly staggered around and gave a wicked smile before pulling her own detonator out of her sleeve. "You made the wrong choice, BRIGADIER!" she said as she opened the detonator up. The soldier who she'd attacked got to his feet as she declared, "LONG LIVE THE A.F.E!". Hearing the words and realizing what was about to happen, the soldier instantly tried to tackle her but it was too late. She slammed her thumb down on the detonator and within an instance, her body exploded. Normally, just the people inside the room and anyone just outside of it would have been caught but instead, this one explosion seemed to ignite another as outside the base, a huge explosion ripped through the main warehouse and several army trucks as well as the main base. People standing around had no chance as the shock-waves forced everyone off of their feet. Moron Air Base was all but obliterated.

00:45:19AM

–

00:49:23AM

 **American Airspace**

Chloe walked back up along the aisle of the cabin, quickly spotting Belcheck who looked up. "Hey – you alright?" he asked as he put his hands on her shoulders. "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess; I've just spoken with the President.." she said. Belcheck rose an eyebrow. "And...?" he enquired. "...He's.. he's spoken with Jack!" she finally said, which surprised the Serb. "Are you sure?" he pushed. "Yeah – he doesn't know much but he has been talking with Jack. He's ok, it seems.." she said. Belcheck kept a stout face but inside, he was revealed – he'd been sincere in trying to keep Chloe going follow Jack's surrender, but personally, even he had questioned the decision in the first place. The news he was ok came as a big relief. "And there's something else too – the President has requested our help for when we land" she added. "Ok, any particular reason?" the Serb asked. "He didn't say – he said he'd contact us through Kurt with more information, but it must be big" the American responded. Belcheck didn't look that convinced.

"I don't get why you're happy to help – it was the government that screwed over you and Jack all those years ago, wasn't it?" he asked. Chloe looked up at him and pulled a face. "I know, but I just feel like I owe it to Heller – after all, he didn't really do anything that screwed me over. It was the governments before him that did that after all.." she reasoned. Belcheck seemed to accept that and the two started to head back towards the cockpit. Further down the plane, Kurt was walking away from the toilet area – within all the chaos that had taken place, he'd forgotten about Gabrielle and was trying to find her. "Kurt?" he heard a voice behind him and he turned to see his girlfriend, bandaged up on one arm and with a big smile on her face. The two hugged. "I'm proud of you, hon – you single-handedly retaking this plane!" she said. Kurt almost blushed. "Oh come on, I didn't do it all on my own – I had help; you, Chloe, that Serb guy. We all retook it!" he insisted. Gabrielle smiled. "So what's happening now?" she asked.

"At the minute, I'm not sure – I think we're still on course to land within the hour and at the minute, I'll take that" the young male American revealed. Gabrielle smiled playfully but then stopped. "What's wrong?" Kurt asked. "Within all the retaking, did anyone think about the VX gas? Or is it still where it is?" she asked – Kurt almost gave her a strange look but then realized she was right. He ran down the plane and towards the stairs leading up to the cockpit, with Gabrielle close behind. "CHLOE! CHLOE!" Kurt yelled and he got the attention of both the former analyst and Belcheck. "What's wrong?" the Serb asked. Kurt pulled both to the side and in front of the entrance to that particular part of the cabin. "We need to get those VX gas canisters off the landing gear before we land – I completely forgot about them until now but we can't risk landing if they're still there" he explained. Chloe's body sank slightly. "I'll go – if we're careful, we can get them off without exposure" Belcheck offered. Kurt nodded. "I'll help you" he said. Then, all of a sudden... "No matter what you do, you won't be able to stop what's coming!" a strange voice said and the four people turned to face Hermann.

"You have no idea what's coming, any of you. By the end of tomorrow, your precious country will be at war – and that just suits me fine. Just picture a scenario, Chloe; the world on the brink. Death and destruction throughout the streets. The people cleansed of those who dare to stand in our way..." he continued and continued speaking even as he saw Chloe's face turn to one of revulsion. "... and no matter what you think, the real terrorists will be wiped off the face of the Earth. Your entire world will fall apart and you will not see it coming!" he finished speaking and gave a smug smile, confident in his belief. Chloe grit her teeth, trying to avoid saying or doing something before she regretted it. Instead, Gabrielle put her arm around her, trying to be supportive. Kurt was the one to speak up. "You really are deluded.. surely this plane being retaken proved to you has proven that terrorism will never win" he retorted. Hermann could only scoff. "Yeah, you believe that. But mark my words, this time tomorrow, you will find yourself in a world engulfed in terror. Not even your precious allies will be able to help you!" he said before turning the other way. The four exchanged a look before Belcheck headed down the stairs towards the area of the cabin that led to the belly of the plane, Kurt quickly following.

–

00:53:21AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Having gotten himself onto a large bit of wreckage, Jack finally unfastened the parachute from around him and let it fall into the water – the flare gun was mostly intact and he knew that help was not too far away. He could not believe he had just done that; he'd managed to take out an attack drone with a weapon-less fighter jet AND he'd survived. As he looked around, trying to see either one of the fighter jets or the rescue helicopter, he stopped – he could only just see it but to the south-west of him, he could see what looked like large billows of smoke lofting into the sky. If only he had binoculars with him, he could check. But his attention was then distracted by what seemed like the sound of jets – he looked back up and saw not just two fighter jets coming towards him, but also a helicopter. Taking the chance, he raised the flare gun into the air and fired.

Onboard the helicopter, the main pilot saw a red flare launch into the sky. "I think that's him – let the Admiral know, I think we've found Bauer!" he ordered his co-pilot who nodded. Jack watched as the fighter jets flew over him and as the helicopter instantly swayed to the right. He carefully got to his feet just as a ladder was dropped down to meet him. He carefully jumped onto the ladder, making his way upwards until he was pulled into the helicopter-proper – the moment he was in and the helicopter door pulled closed, the pilot started to move back in the direction he had first come in, the jets then following. "MR BAUER?" the main pilot yelled as Jack made his way to the vacant seat. "Steven Wallace!" he added, shaking hands with Jack who sat down. "Welcome aboard Helicopter G4. Out of interest, what happened?" Wallace asked, referring to the plane wreckage. "The attack drone managed to damage my fuel tank; had to jettison it before it blew up. How long until we reach the carrier" Jack said. "Well, it took 15 minutes to get here but it'll take 20 to get back – on the basis the Truman is heading back to DC" Wallace explained. Jack nodded. "Out of interest, what were you doing in the area?" he asked; he hadn't actually met to ask but considering the events of the last few hours, part of him felt like he shouldn't miss anything out. "A military plane got shot down around this area a few hours ago – we couldn't find anyone alive but we did retrieve some of its wreckage" the pilot explained. "Was there anyone important on that plane?" Jack was now really curious.

"Yeah, actually... the President's Chief of Staff, Mark Boudreau" Wallace replied. Jack stopped at that – his jaw dropped in surprise and his blood ran cold. Boudreau... DEAD?! Ok, he really had no sympathy for him as it was his actions that led to America nearly going to war with China and it was his actions that indirectly led to the death of Audrey, but it still came as a huge surprise. "No disrespect intended, but get a move on – I need to talk to the President the moment we land!" Jack demanded. Wallace simply nodded, understanding the situation and moved the controls slightly so they were gathering speed. This was bad, Jack thought to himself. First, Russian soldiers and Ukraine rebels shoot down the helicopter he was in. Then he finds evidence of a planned attack on DC. Then he finds himself pursued by Russians, Ukrainians and now whoever was controlling that attack drone – someone didn't want him to get back to America. But who?

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Further up the ocean, the Yuri Dolgorukiy was still charging along near the bottom of the ocean bed. "You're sure of this, Krylenko?" Benediktov asked, very much surprised. "Yes, sir! Ballester's tracking signal has gone dead, which can only mean she's dead.." the Ukrainian insisted. "Ok, what else?" the Russian General pushed for more information. "Well, reports are coming in of an explosion at Moron Air Base.." she started but the General interrupted rather angrily. "I didn't mean that – I MEAN ANTHING ON BAUER!" he yelled. But as Krylenko looked up at him with shock, he realized he'd been a little bit harsh. "Sorry, I'm just anxious – have you seen any evidence that Bauer is alive?" he asked again. "...no. It doesn't look like it – the live drone feed doesn't seem to have picked up any evidence he's alive. I was going to check in with Ballester for an update until I noticed her tracking signal was dead..." she replied. Benediktov sighed in relief. "Well, that's something. For now, I think we can safely say that Bauer's dead" he said, before leaving. The moment he was out of her immediate hearing range, he spoke to himself.

"I hope our ally is doing alright..."

–

16:57:41PM

 **America**

Inside a prison cell was Prisoner #658 or as he called himself, "Jeremy Henderson" - he had been waiting in the cell for about three hours, waiting for when the "time was right" for his prison guard to set off the plan they had come up with. He knew what he had to do – he was just dependent on the guard coming through. As if on cue, there was a knock on the door and the slot opened up to reveal the prison guard holding a tray with a glass of water. Henderson took the tray and nodded as the slot was shot; he quickly moved the glass out of the water to reveal two keys on a chain.

In the room monitoring the security, a guard was keeping a close eye on the activity, or lack there-of when three monitors suddenly went black. Back in the cells, the cell door opened and Henderson emerged, clutching the set of keys as he went down the hallway to another cell. Inside, a Hispanic man sat reading a magazine when he heard a clang and then looked up to see the door open – thinking it was a guard, he put the magazine down and stood up, only to be caught off-guard when he saw Henderson walk in casually. "What's going on?" the second prisoner asked in confusion – Henderson gave a sneering smile before charging straight into the Hispanic, slamming him into the wall. Desperately trying to fight back, he tried scratching at Henderson's face, enabling him to push him back and into the cell hallway. The guard in allegiance with Henderson witnessed this and slammed on the alarm, opening the doors to the hallway. "GET OFF! I SAID, GET OFF YOU IDIOT!" the Hispanic yelled as he tried to push Henderson off of him.

As a second guard ran in, the first guard was able to slam Henderson onto the floor as he helped the Hispanic to his feet. Henderson tried going in for another attempt, only to be restrained by the second guard. "You ok, #719?" the first guard asked. "DO I LOOK OK? This idiot tried to attack me!" the prisoner, known as #719, yelled. "How the hell was he able to escape in the first place?" the second guard asked, trying to get a hold of Henderson. "Look, I'll deal with this. I'll take #658 to medical, you take #719 to see the warden to give his detail of events... that ok?" the first guard asked, looking directly at #719 by the end, who gave both a nod and a shrug. The second guard released Henderson and took a hold of #658, shutting off the alarm as he left – Henderson looked at the guard. "That was probably the worst escape plan I've ever seen. You better have a good plan for part two..." he said quietly and rather annoyed. "Yes, I do... Just bare with me..." the guard insisted as he dragged Henderson out of the cells. This had better work if I'm to meet the deadlines, the prisoner thought to himself.

–

01:00:00AM

* * *

Out of curiousity and for next time, what is everyone's fav 24 season?


	10. 10: 1am - 2am (EST)

Hello, hello! Yes, you're seeing things correctly - Hour 10 is now up! Now I'm free from uni for a few months, I should find time to write more of the chapters/hours and hopefully get AT LEAST a third of the way through this story by September time. So here's Part 10 of the story - please continue reviewing, rating or even following the story!

And also, I should reveal my fav 24 season: it's ironically the one I'm watching now as part of my series re-watches, Day 5!

D **ISCLAIMER: See Chapter 1**

* * *

10: 1am – 2am (EST)

 **The following takes place between 1am and 2am, European Standard Time:**

–

20:00:01PM

 **White House**

Outside the Oval Office, Baylis was finishing up a phone-call he had taken. "Ok, that's fine, thank you" he said with a grim face. He walked back into the Oval Office, unsure of how he could tell the President. "Everything ok, Brian?" Heller asked, quick to notice his stony face. "Well.. not really. I just got his concerning news" the NSA replied. As both Heller and McKaye looked up at him, curiosity and concern etched on their faces, he gulped inwardly. "I just got reports... that there's been some kind of attack at Moron Air Base" he finally said. Heller froze and McKaye almost did a double-take. "You mean the US-owned base in Spain?" the MI-5 agent asked. Baylis nodded. "Details are sketchy but according to survivors inside, it happened at the same time someone had hijacked control of a drone to try and shoot something down" he added.

"Jack..." Heller said suddenly, causing both men to look up at him. "The Admiral on the Truman – the message he relayed to me, it said Jack was being chased by a drone!" he said in response to their looks of confusion. "I think these two things are connected – from what I've been told, it seems someone is trying to stop Jack getting to America". On further thought, the theory didn't sound so strange; of course, both men only had the word of a President whose mental state was deteriorating but it did make sense. By account of the fact someone or something shot down the helicopter that was transporting Jack to Russia. And the fact he'd been chased through the Ukraine by Russian soldiers and then Ukraine rebels. And now this. "Any word on Bauer?" Baylis inquired. "Yes, there is – while you were gone, we got word from the Truman. They've picked up Jack by helicopter and he should be touching down on the carrier soon" McKaye replied. The NSA nodded in understanding – he then looked towards Heller, expecting some further orders.

"In the meantime.. Brian, the moment Jack lands on the carrier, I need you to contact Flight 681. You know I asked for Ms O'Brian's assistance in dealing with today's events and she needs the full details – and before you ask, the reason why I want you to wait is because I want Jack in on the call so he can explain what he's learnt on his end" Heller ordered and his adviser nodded. "Andrew, I want you to get me the rest of my Cabinet immediately – I need to update them on the situation" he added and the MI-5 agent nodded, quickly getting up and leaving the office. Heller got up from his chair and started to look out of the window; with the news of the explosion at the Air Base in Spain, it was now becoming clear someone did not want Jack getting to America. Which meant this person knew who he was. They may have got some more of the "Who's", but they were still lacking a "Why" and a "What".

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Below the sea level, the Yuri Dolgorukiy continued on it's course. "I'm being serious! We can't find any trace of Bauer at all – if we had, I would have told you!" Benediktov almost yelled into his phone. " **I know you would have told me, Andre..** " Dimitrijevic said as calmly as she did. " **..but it does seem a little farfetched, that's all. Bauer spends years dodging the Russians and the Americans and** yet one of our operatives kills him with a flukey shot? Doesn't make sense to me.." she added, now speaking from a dark office. " _Well, we're keeping our eyes open in case anything pops up._ But at the minute, I think we should take the best from this" the Russian replied, a bit confused by the fact the head-honcho of the whole operation didn't seem too fussed that they had managed to eliminate the biggest threat to their plans. " **Ok, that's fine. Is there anything else to report?** " the Serb asked. Benediktov was unsure if he should really say what he was going to add as it was possible Dimitrijevic would have figured it out. "Yes... _Ballester is dead. Her tracking signal went dead around the time Bauer was shot down_ " he finally said. Of course, he had no clue Dimitrijevic had already been in discreet contact with the Spanish operative. "I see.. well, you know as well as I do, Andre, **that Ballester's job was probably the toughest. Marine Cell had the luxury of surprise to their advantage, as did Airborne Cell.** Ballester had to infiltrate the US army on top of other things!" the Serb reasoned.

Benediktov knew he was right, but it was still a sad loss for arguably someone who had signed up to the cause well before anyone else. " **We will have time to mourn for those we have lost once the mission is complete. Talking of which, how** far are you from the East Coast?" she continued. " **About nine or so hours**. **So far** , we've not encountered any problems; even when we tested out the Bulava missile on that military plane" the Russian replied. " **Excellent. Call me as soon as you're within three hours of reaching land for an update** " Dimitrijevic ordered. "Of course, Melina" Benediktov replied before hanging up – the moment he put the phone down, he instinctively looked at the door. He wasn't afraid of anything on this mission but he was a little worried as no-one but him knew of his contacts with Dimitrijevic; if anyone else did, it had the potential to spark a mutiny. He got up from his seat and headed for the closed door; only the moment he opened it, he was taken aback to see Krylenko fall in, like as if she'd been resting on it. "Krylenko..." the General said, a tad suspicious. "I'm sorry, sir! I was going to knock but then the door opened and.. well..." the Ukrainian rambled on, uncharacteristically showing nerves until she met the General's stern face – he was indicating "get to the point". "We have a problem! I was listening in to radio frequencies for any information and according to a few... Flight 681 is no longer under terrorist control!" she finally said.

Benediktov's jaw dropped very slightly. "You're sure of this?" he demanded. "YES! I tried to listen in for more information but the details I heard were very vague each and every time – long story short, I'm pretty sure that Airborne Cell are no longer in control..." she insisted. Benediktov looked down and for a moment, Krylenko was sure he could see concern in his eyes. "This is not good. I wouldn't be surprised if the President has found out about the VX gas as well..." he said quietly, before looking back up at the young woman. "Continue monitoring the frequencies; if anything, we may need a Plan B" he ordered. "Yes, General" Krylenko nodded before leaving. As he watched the young woman leave, his face fell. Dimitrijevic needed to be told and she was not going to like it.

–

01:08:12AM

 **American Airspace**

In the belly of the plane, Kurt was kneeling in front of the landing gear, staring at the tube of VX gas he had seen earlier as Belcheck tried to force it off without damaging the gear. They'd been able to remove all nine of the other tubes rather easily and they were sitting on a large white towel, but now they had just this one left and they had no idea on how to remove it as it seemed wedged onto the landing gear itself. "Come on... almost there" the Serb said through gritted teeth, hoping the tube would come off. To his relief, it did and without any damage to the landing gear – the loose end almost went flying but Kurt was there to catch it; thankfully, the lid didn't come off. "We got them all.." Kurt sighed in relief as he set the tube down on the towel. He made his way to the open panel back into the cabin as Belcheck lifted up all the corners of the towel and gently handed it to the American as soon as he was back in the cabin – Kurt carefully walked towards the stairs with the bundle as Belcheck made his way into the cabin and closed up the open floor panel.

Standing at the top of the stairs was Chloe who quickly rushed down and helped Kurt with the bundle of tubes. She gave a sigh of relief as she saw the contents of the bundle and then as Belcheck come into view. "Is that all of them?" she asked. "Yeah, it's all of them. We're safe now" the Serb spoke up. Chloe helped Kurt bring the bundle up the stairs and then placed them gently onto a pair of empty seats. "How long until we land?" Kurt asked suddenly. "About 30 minutes or thereabouts – we'll be on the ground before you know it" Chloe assured him but then noticed what looked like concern in his eyes. She had a good idea of what the concern was. "Listen.. you did brilliant here – look at how many lives you singlehandedly saved, not once but twice!" she insisted, throwing her arms on his shoulders and referring to not just his saving of the plane but by him and Belcheck managing to then stop the flight being shot down. "I know – it's just, I keep feeling like something doesn't add up. We retook the flight, but it just seemed too easy.." he replied.

Chloe slowly turned her back for a moment, debating whether she ought to tell him about what the President had said. Finally.. "I've been in contact with President Heller. I can't say much but he's asked for my help as soon as I land.." she said. "..because he's found something that suggests the hijacking was part of a bigger plan" Kurt guessed and Chloe's lack of response suggested he was right. "I'm going with you. When we land" he suddenly declared. Chloe tried to reply but he wasn't listening. "Listen, if there is actually a danger to the country, I don't want to just sit by and do nothing. I want to help!" he said and the analyst started to wonder if whether he did want to help or if he still had the rush of adrenaline from retaking the plane. "Kurt, listen! You've been brilliant the last few hours – but I seriously, your job's done. I know you want to help but there's literally nothing you can do" she said, sympathy in her voice. As she spotted Belcheck coming up the stairs, she gave a sorry glance to the American and walked to the left of the stairs. The Serb followed her and the two shared a look. "Well done" she said, giving a sad smile and referring to his actions in removing the tubes. The Serb nodded, once again not showing any signs of emotion. "Heard anything from the President?" he asked. Chloe simply shook her head.

"Got any real idea on WHY he wants our help?" the Serb asked. "No... though I can't help but think it's to do with Jack. The last few hours on top of everything else.. it smells of a further attack" she replied; she knew she couldn't avoid to rule out any possibilities, especially considering that every time she had helped Jack in fighting off terrorists, events that no-one saw coming took place – Stephen Saunders being the mastermind behind the Cordilla virus, the infiltration of CTU during the Sentox conspiracy, even the Chinese in London just over a day ago. "Did the President say WHEN he'd be in contact?" Belcheck pushed further. Chloe sensed his growing anger. "Why are you being so hostile? In fact, to be honest, I don't know why Heller has asked for your help – from what I've been told, you HATE America!" she said, perhaps a bit too loudly and harshly. In response, Belcheck grabbed a hold of her and slammed her into a corner. "Listen very carefully – I am only here because Jack asked me to ensure you returned to America safely. My personal opinions, they are frankly nothing to do with you!" he hissed and Chloe recoiled in shock. But the Serb was not finished. "I may have anti-America beliefs but I am putting them aside for now, just to make sure you get back safely! Now, I don't know why Heller wants me but if he's asking for my help, I see no reason why I shouldn't – if there is a direct threat to your country because of the hijacking, then it will actively involve members of my own country that are engaged in terrorist activities! I can not sit by and let such... VENOM potentially plunge the world into war!" he finally finished, his anger evident.

Shaking and almost hyperventilating, Chloe was completely taken aback by the anger shown from the Serb – she'd only known him for about a day but he had never let his emotions boil over like that. Realizing he'd overstepped his mark, Belcheck stepped backwards. "I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to get at you at all. It's just everything that's happened over the last few days; I've not slept at all and..." he apologized but he then stopped as he looked into Chloe's eyes – he saw fear and concern. This was a side of him she had never seen before. Regretting his outburst, he walked off down the cabin, hitting himself mentally for what he said. Chloe simply watched him, now worried for the well-being of the Serb.

01:12:57AM

–

01:17:10AM

 **North Atlantic Sea**

With both fighter jets on either side, the search-and-rescue helicopter flew over the dark ocean. "We're here, Jack.." Wallace said as he started to steer the helicopter to the left. Jack looked down – whilst it was incredibly dark, he could make out the outline of the CVN Harry S. Truman. On the carrier's deck, activity was rife as the helicopter was guided onto its landing platform – finally, the helicopter touched down and the door was instantly opened, allowing Jack to climb out.

"Mr Bauer?" a young Marine asked as Jack set his feet on the ground. "Yeah!" he replied. "SEAMANN QUINN – THE ADMIRAL ASSIGNED ME TO YOU!" Quinn introduced himself, at least he tried to over the noise and the two shook hands. "Where is the Admiral now?" Jack asked. "In his quarters! He wants to see you immediately!" the Seaman explained as he turned around and led Jack towards the inside of the carrier. "WATCH YOUR STEP!" he quickly warned as they made their way across the carrier's runway. The two made it inside and Quinn led Jack down a flight of stairs. "It's just down this hall" the seaman said and before they knew it, they were outside a large door. Quinn knocked. "Come in!" a voice said and the seaman pushed the door open, leading Jack in. "Mr Bauer for you, Admiral!" the seaman said as Woodhouse looked up. "Thank you, seaman. In the meantime, I need you to finish preparing Mr Bauer's quarters" he ordered. "Yes, sir!" Quinn nodded and he left, closing the door. "How you doing, Jack?" the Admiral said as he got up. "Fine, thank you, sir" Jack replied as he moved forward and shook hands with him. "The fighter pilots gave me a rough idea of what they saw when they found you. What happened?" Woodhouse asked. "Well, whoever was firing those missiles, they managed to hit my fuel tank. I had to jettison it before it blew up and then eject – thankfully, the drone was destroyed by the jettisoned tank" Jack said, trying to keep it simple.

The Admiral nodded as he listened. "Out of interest, do you happen to know where the drone came from?" the former CTU agent asked. "As a matter of fact, yes. Approximately around the same time you destroyed the drone, Moron Air Base was destroyed!" Woodhouse explained and Jack gave a look of shock. "The air base in Spain?" he replied. "Correct. Details are sketchy but it's becoming rather clear that someone had infiltrated the base and had hijacked a drone to destroy your jet" the Admiral said. Jack nodded and put his head into his hands. "Any chance I could freshen up? I've been on the move since around I crash-landed in the Ukraine" he asked. "Of course – however, before then, the President needs to talk to you. Something about a debriefing between parties" he explained and Jack gave a look of confusion. "I don't understand – how else needs to be debriefed?" he asked. "I don't quite know but apparently, one of the names said was a... Chloe O'Brian?" Woodhouse replied and Jack's look of confusion turned to disbelief. "Chloe? I don't understand.." he said. "I don't know the full details, sorry; you'll have to find out when you call the President's office.." the Admiral said. Nodding, Jack made his way behind his desk. "Sorry, but you don't mind if I do this privately?" he said as he found the phone.

"Not at all- I'll be outside when you're done" Woodhouse nodded, acknowledging Jack's need for privacy and he headed to the closed door, pulling it open and shutting it behind him. With the room empty, Jack picked up the phone and started dialling.

–

20:22:13PM

 **White House**

McKaye walked back into the Oval Office to see both Heller and Baylis waiting. "Excuse me, sir. The cabinet has been briefed and are waiting for your arrival" he told the President, who looked up. "Right, thank you, Andrew" he said, standing up. "Brian, you know what to do when Jack rings?" he added, looking at his National Security Advisor. "Of course, sir. Good luck with the briefing" Baylis replied as his commander-in-chief started to leave the room, followed by McKaye. As soon as they left, the phone started ringing and Baylis moved in to pick it up. "President's office, Baylis speaking" he said. " _Sir, I've got Jack Bauer on the line for you_ " a female voice said. "Put it through" he replied. A few seconds passed by. " _Hello?_ " Jack said. "Mr Bauer, hello! I'm Brian Baylis, the _President's National Security Advisor!_ " he introduced himself. "Hello, sir! Where's the _President?_ " Jack responded politely, though a little surprised he was not talking with Heller. "The President's currently talking with the remainder of his Cabinet – _you'll be dealing with me for the debriefing!_ " Baylis revealed. "Ok, that's fine though from what I've gathered, _I'll be debriefing a third party?_ " Jack inquired. "Yes.. in fact, it'll be Chloe O'Brian!" came the quick reply.

Jack sighed in relief – that meant Flight 681 was no longer in danger. "Right, thank you. I'll speak to her when you're ready.." he said. " _Right,_ bear with me" Baylis replied as he typed in the number for Kurt's phone, having been told beforehand of what it was by Heller.

–

 **American Airspace**

Chloe had retreated into the cockpit after Belcheck's unexpected outburst and was talking with Captain Black. "CHLOE!" a voice called and she looked up to see Kurt a few inches from the cockpit door. "White House for you!" he said, holding his phone. Chloe quickly got up from the vacant pilot's chair. "I'll be right back.." she said. "Be quick with your phone-call. I'll be starting landing procedure in the next 10 to 15 minutes" Black ordered. The former analyst nodded and walked outside of the cockpit, picking up the phone from Kurt's hand. "Hello?" she said. " _Ms O'Brian, hello! I'm Brian Baylis, President Heller's_ National Security Advisor" Baylis introduced himself. " _Hi..._ " Chloe said a little uneasily, having expected to be speaking with the President. "At the minute, _the President is in conference with his Cabinet. But don't worry, you won't_ be dealing with me for the most part" he explained. Chloe gave a look of confusion. "I don't understand.." she said.

"I've got someone on the line for you" Baylis said with a smile as he typed in some numbers on the phone. On Flight 681, Chloe heard nothing but dead air until.. " _Chloe?_ " a familiar voice asked and Chloe's eyes rose in surprise. "JACK!" she almost yelled, her voice half-concerned, half-delighted. " _Chloe, you have no idea_ how good it is to hear you.." Jack said, relief flowing through his body. " _Same..._ though, what's been going on, Jack? _The President told me you'd escaped from Russia!_ " Chloe replied. "Russia? No, no, Chloe – _I didn't get to Russia..._ " Jack started before Baylis interjected. "Don't mean to interrupt, but _could we get a move on, sorry_ " he requested. "Yeah, in thinking about it, Jack, the plane's not far from landing so if we could.." Chloe backed up. " _Yeah, yeah, of course_. Ok, I'll start off – I'll try and keep this simple. First off, you know I was taken by the Russians in London; however, at around 16:40 European Standard Time, the helicopter transporting me was shot down somewhere over the West of the..." Jack agreed and he started to detail out his experience of the last hours, unaware that on the onboard security feed, he was being watched. The Truman had a room that monitored the security footage throughout the ship and one part of the feed was fixated on the Admiral's room. And that was being watched by a young dark-haired woman intently.

–

20:28:23PM

 **America**

Henderson was lying on a prison infirmary bed, one hand handcuffed to the side railing and the other holding an ice pack on his chest. The infirmary nurse on duty had gone off to attend to a phone-call and as such, the American was the only person in the infirmary. Until he heard the lock on the door being opened and he turned to see the prison guard walking in and carrying a large cardboard box which was set down on the spare bed railing. "You got them?" Henderson asked in surprise. "I did.." the guard said, opening up the lid so Henderson could peer inside – for inside was a large amount of explosives. "How in the hell did you manage to get them undetected?" he asked in bewilderment. "I'm a prison guard.. I have my advantages" the guard said smugly before moving to the other side of the bed and un-cuffing him. "The nurse still on the phone?" he asked. Henderson nodded. "Right – if we can get out of here quietly, she won't expect a thing.." he said, placing the box next to the bed and out of immediate sight.

Henderson jumped off the bed and the guard moved to place him back in the handcuffs, though secretly did not lock them and the two left, the nurse still oblivious. As the door closed, the guard looked all around him and pulled a tube-like detonator out of his sleeve. "When the explosion happens, overpower me and run! They'll have to open all the cells in the event of fire and the confusion will be to your advantage" the guard said quietly and Henderson nodded. Finally, the guard opened up the tube and pushed down on the red button. Nothing happened for a few seconds but just as the nurse opened the door of her office and walked into the infirmary... BOOM! A large explosion ripped through the infirmary and demolished anything within 30ft of it – guards went flying, Henderson was knocked to his feet, glass shattered in all locations and from outside, a large fireball ripped through the roof and into the air. Inside, Henderson managed to force the loose handcuffs from his arms as he got back to his feet – he and the guard shared a look before he grabbed the gun that had fallen out of the guard's possession and kicked him in the stomach. He quickly moved to run before stopping and turning around, mouthing a "Thanks".

Elsewhere in the prison, it was mayhem – in the main control room, the guard on duty instinctively opened all the cell doors whilst guards rushed in to gather up all the prisoners. At first, the prisoners across all the blocks were confused at being let out.. at least they were, until they saw a huge fireball and guards frantically trying to escape the blaze. And within all the confusion, Henderson had hidden himself – phase one was done, now onto phase two and escaping the prison.

20:30:19PM

–

01:35:34PM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

" _And I guess that's pretty much the whole of it.._ " Chloe said, having seemingly finished speaking. "Right, thank you Chloe" Jack said, still speaking from Admiral Woodhouse's office on the Truman. " _You've done really well, the last few hours_ " he added, now heard over the phone as Chloe looked around the cabin. "Well, obviously its not just..." she started before being interrupted. "CHLOE!" she heard a voice and turned around. "Just spoke with Captain Black – we're about five minutes from landing!" Kurt explained. Chloe nodded. "Jack, I'm sorry, the plane's about to land. I've got to go.." she said. " _Ok, that's fine – I've_ got what I need. As it is, I'm en-route to DC. Hoping to reach land within two hours.." Jack replied. " _I'll see you at the White House_ " he said. Chloe's relief at hearing Jack say those words meant she didn't reply – taking her silence as her understanding, he smirked and hung up. Getting up from the Admiral's chair, he walked towards the door and opened it, spotting Woodhouse waiting. "Thank you, sir. I'm finished now" he said, also grateful for the Admiral's privacy. "Got everything sorted?" Woodhouse asked. Jack gave a simple nod. "Very well" he smiled as he noticed Seaman Quinn come into view. "Seaman! Is Mr Bauer's quarters ready?" he barked. Quinn stopped and saluted. "Yes, sir! I'm here to escort Mr Bauer to the quarters" he explained.

"Very well. If you need me at all, Jack, just speak to Mr Quinn" Woodhouse said. "Thank you, sir" Jack replied, shaking hands with the tall man before following Quinn around the corner.

–

 **American Airspace**

Flight 681 was descending through the dark sky – and according to a brief chat Captain Black had had with Air Traffic Control, the plane was now just minutes from landing at the Ronald Reagan National Airport. Normally, United Airlines didn't operate from London to this airport as they instead flew to Washington-Dulles, but apparently the National Airport was having a slow night and owing to the circumstances, ATC controllers had given Captain Black the okay to land. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.." Black spoke into the intercom, addressing the whole plane. "I hope all of you are now buckled down _as we are beginning our descent to land. First off, I completely apologize for the experience you have endured today and I would like to give a huge thank you to four passengers in particular for their part in rescuing the plane.._ " he continued, his words heard throughout the plane. Chloe very slight blushed at the latter part of his words but was thankful the Captain didn't address her, Kurt, Gabrielle or Belcheck by name. She would have heard the rest of what Black was saying too had it not been for the rest of the passengers around her giving a huge round of applause – they knew she had helped in saving the plane.

" _...we are now just five minutes from landing – seeing as I'm the only cockpit crew-member alive,_ I'll try to make this after comfortable as possible _.._ " Black finished, only to be caught off-guard when the chair next to him was sat in. It was Belcheck, who looked at Black silently – the Captain instantly realized he was going to help out. "Thanks" he said quietly as he lent the Serb what was the headset used by Avram and then Hermann.

Outside the plane, the sky around it was still as dark as it could be... but at long last, it broke through the few clouds and the bright lights of Washington DC finally came into view. "You ever been to Washington?" Black asked Belcheck; not in a inquisitive manner but more of a curious manner. The Serb shook his head. "Outside of London, I've only been in countries in the Eastern part of Europe. This is my first time in America.." he said and Black nodded. "...and hopefully my last" he quickly added. The Captain gave a look of surprise but said nothing, instead opting to lower the landing gear into position

–

 **The Prison**

Fire engines, ambulance and police vehicles rushed onto the prison premises, as workers rushed out in a state of panic. Inside, the guards have gotten control of the situation and under the instruction of the warden, who was overseeing what he could from the control room, they were guiding prisoners away from the fire and out of the main building, all in small groups. But that left Henderson, who was trying to find a way out where he wouldn't be spotted on either the security footage or by any of the guards. Eventually, he spied a side cupboard and quickly made his way towards it – discreetly opening the door, he spied a vent near the ceiling. Closing the door to cover his tracks, he jumped up and managed to pull down the opening to the event – from first glance, it looked big enough for him to get through. Throwing his gun up first, Henderson then finally made his way into the vent and started to analyze where to go; the prison infirmary was on the east side of the premises and he hadn't strayed too far so maybe if he just kept going north-bound, he'll find his way out. Crawling forwards, he started to go into what he expected to be a long maze – he had hoped to get a map of the vent system from his guard just in case but that was easier said than done.

–

20:45:21AM

 **White House**

Heller and McKaye walked back into the Oval Office, unsurprised to see Baylis waiting on one of the sofas. "How did the chat with Jack go?" Heller asked. "Fairly well – I've got some more details from both Jack's end and that of Ms O'Brian" the NSA replied, to which Heller nodded. "Ok, what are they?" he inquired. "Most of what I've heard is pretty much what we heard prior to the conversation, but what interested me most was how Jack actually found a detailed plan of this so-called "A.F.E" as you said earlier.." Baylis explained, which set McKaye's eyebrows raising. "...why would someone leave a plan like that out in the open?" he asked in confusion. "I don't know – according to Jack, he found it left hidden in an underground shelter in the middle of nowhere. He wasn't able to take it with him, but he seems convinced that these terrorists are intending to finish with your death, sir..." Baylis replied, who then trailed off as he realized Heller wasn't listening – he was instead looking outside his window, seemingly starring out into space.

"Sir?" McKaye pushed, standing up in worry. "Mr President?" Baylis added. Nothing. "JAMES?" he then almost yelled, which caught Heller by surprise and he turned in shock. "Sorry sir, but you'd zoned out" McKaye reasoned. "Oh, I'm sorry. What were you talking about, Brian?" the President replied. "I was on about what Jack had found in the Ukraine – he seems to think the terrorists intend to try and kill you at the end of their operations" Baylis replied but he was met with a wall of confusion. "I'm sorry, who wants to try and kill me?" Heller replied, giving a face that was asking "what the hell are you on about?". McKaye put his head in his hands; the dementia was flaring up once again. "The terrorists, sir. Apparently the hijackers of Flight 681 are only one cell in a bigger plan" Baylis insisted, trying to keep it as simple as possible. Heller remained still for a moment, before realizing. "Yes, I know what you mean now!" he said though upon looking at the faces of both men, he realized his dementia had struck once again. He outwardly sighed – if his dementia kept flaring up like this, he seriously doubted he would even remember there was a possible threat against him!

"Do you want us to take a break, sir?" McKaye offered. "No... no, it's ok. Just keep going, best you can" Heller insisted, moving towards his desk and pouring himself a glass of water. "That's fine, sir. Though I should also note.. you invited Ms O'Brian and... I think you called him Belcheck, you invited them here as soon as Flight 681 landed" Baylis replied, hoping his President at least remembered that. Heller finished up his drink and nodded. "Yeah.. yeah, I remember inviting them. I sent out some Secret Service agents to bring them here When should they be landing?" he asked, clearly remembering that Flight 681 had been freed from hijacker control. "I think they might already have landed. We'll found out soon enough" McKaye added. Heller nodded and looked outside his window again. "What were you saying, Brian?" he said, which gave Baylis the cue to start talking again.

20:48:53PM

–

20:53:04PM

 **Ronald Reagan Airport**

Flight 681 had been on the ground for about 10 minutes and the passengers and crew were being evacuated from the plane. As police and airport security took them group by group towards the main terminal, luggage handlers were sorting out the various bits of luggage from the cargo area.

As the last group outside the plane were escorted, only Captain Black, Chloe, Belcheck, Kurt and Gabrielle were left as well as the four surviving hijackers. Chloe headed down the passenger stairs, to be met with several police officers and two men who looked like they were from the Secret Service. "Ms O'Brian?" one asked and Chloe nodded. "I'm Agent Yanes of the Secret Service, this is Agent Polston. We're here by order of the President, to take you and a Mr Belcheck into custody?" Yanes explained and then asked, hoping they had the right person. "Yeah, that's right" Chloe confirmed as Belcheck made his way to the bottom of the stairs. "Mr Belcheck?" Polston asked. "No Mister. Just Belcheck.." the Serb said sternly, though he nodded at the agent's question. As this was happening, Kurt, Gabrielle and the Captain had come to the bottom of the stairs and an airport police officer noticed. "Mr Escalona?" she asked, to which a surprised Kurt nodded "I've been ordered to debrief both you and Ms Rebenal on the events of our journey" she continued, recognizing that Gabrielle must be "Ms Rebenal" owing to the fact the couple were side by side.

"Of course, anything to help" Gabrielle said though Kurt was a bit more reserved – he had still hoped to play a part should any further terrorist activity become clear. The officer led the two to the car and as Gabrielle moved forward, Kurt stood still and turned his head to face Chloe. "Sir?" he knew it was the officer's voice and reluctantly, he turned his head back around so he could walk towards the police car. "Kurt!" another voice suddenly said and he turned his body to see Chloe. "Thank you... for everything you've done" she said, giving a smile and holding her hand out. After several seconds, Kurt walked forward and shook the welcome hand. "Good luck; and should we think we need you.. or Gabrielle, the White House will be in touch" Chloe said and Kurt smiled. "Thanks" he said, grateful for the offer before releasing his hand from the former analyst and walking back towards the car. Chloe watched it drive off before turning and walking back towards Belcheck and the two agents. "We should probably go; the President is waiting as we speak.." Polston proposed. "Hold on – sorry, I just want to see." Chloe interjected before indicating to the plane, motioning she wanted to see the four surviving hijackers bought off the plane. The agents shared a look. "Very well then" Yanes agreed as several police officers went up the stairs.

After a few seconds, Chloe was a bit taken aback to see what looked like a plains-clothes man bringing the bundle of VX gas tubes down the stairs. "Hold on! What are you doing with those?" she almost demanded to know. "It's ok, ma'am. I'm with the airport police – I've been asked to take the tubes in for evidence" the man explained calmly before displaying identification from his pocket. Chloe sighed, regretting her frontal approach. The man smiled and left, mouthing a "Don't worry" as he headed towards a police car parked at the back of the plane. At that point, there was a bit of ruckus at the top of the plane steps and Chloe, Belcheck and the two agents looked up to see the four remaining hijackers being escorted out of the plane by police officers – a senior officer, most like a Captain, watched this with a smug smile. "Hermann! Such a pleasant surprise to see you here again" he remarked as the German was led past him but it was safe to say he was a bit surprised by who was being escorted behind Hermann. "Well, well, WELL! Nicholae Avram! You know, the Romanian government are going to be VERY surprised that we had you in our custody before they even announced the world-wide order for your arrest!" the Captain remarked, clear delight in his voice at seeing the Romanian national and then slight sarcasm towards the end; clearly, he'd been after Avram for some time.

"Put them in the back of the truck!" he then ordered his officers. "Yes, Captain" a few of them said as the four hijackers were placed in the back of an armored police truck. The Captain turned to Chloe and Belcheck. "I understand you two played a part in retaking the plane" he said, to which Belcheck gave a very slight nod. "Well, I wanted to thank you personally – you've saved countless lives today. And we finally have Nichaloe Avram in our custody – I don't know if you knew but we have been trying to find him for years and only now, his government issued a warrant for his arrest. So, thank you!" he added before turning around and heading towards the police car in front of the truck. Inside, the last hjiacker was placed firmly on the bench and handcuffed in. Avram looked up at Hermann. "What now? Do you think we bought Statewide Cell enough time?" he asked quietly. "Oh, I should think so. I seriously doubt Heller was able to uncover the truth – he still thinks they're standard criminals" the German said just as quietly, but with confidence in his voice.

Outside, the doors to the truck were locked shut and the officer that had locked them went to the front of the truck, getting in the passengers side. As the police car, then followed by the truck, drove off, Agent Polston spoke up. "I think we should get going" he said. Chloe watched the truck before looking at the agent and nodding. "Of course" she agreed and at that, Agent Yanes directed Chloe and Belcheck towards their car.

Inside the truck, Hermann looked up and had a look around the interior before stopping at a police officer whose hat and head were both tipped downwards for some strange reason. Whilst his face couldn't quite be as well seen as intended, the German thought he looked familiar. "I'm sorry, but have we seen each other somewhere before?" he asked. The officer looked up and pulled his hat back to reveal his face – whilst Hermann didn't realize it, this was the person who had shot down the helicopter of the Vice-President and had seemingly alerted General Benediktov about Air Force One landing in DC. "That depends – where do you think you've seen me before?" he asked. "I think – it was in Belarus about five years ago. You had been the "plus-one" for a top official at a private dinner party" the German replied. At that, the man smiled. "Correct answer. I'm Jokanovic, you see. And I must say, I'm pretty touched that you actually remember me.." he said. Hermann smirked, resisting the urge to say anything. But then Jokanovic's face dropped as he pulled a tube out of his sleeve. "...especially seeing as it's the last thing you're ever going to do!" he said. Hermann eyed the tube in confusion as Jokanovic opened up the tube and pressed downwards.

Outside, Belcheck was already in the car and Chloe slowly made her way inside when it happened...

A huge explosion ripped through the police truck, instantly shattering the windscreen and windows of the police car in front as well as sending the captain flying into an airbag. Yanes instinctively forced Chloe into the car and threw himself over the open door as Polston almost fell backwards, saved only by the wing-view mirror on the passenger side of the car. The explosion was so loud, it was clearly heard inside the Oval Office and Heller almost fell out of his chair at hearing it. "What was THAT?" McKaye yelled in shock and Baylis made his way towards the window, where he could just about make out a large amount of smoke to the right of the White House. "Get on it, McKaye! Find out where that came from!" Heller ordered the MI-5 agent, who nodded and scrambled forward towards the office phone.

Back at the airport, the Captain uneasily made his way out of the damaged police cruiser and tried to walk towards the smoking remains of the police truck. "Get the doors open!" he ordered, as the cruiser driver scrambled out of the slightly wrecked remains in shock. Yanes helped Polston to his feet. "Get on the radio, tell the President that Hermann and Avram have been killed in what looks like a suicide!" he ordered the taller agent, who got the driver door open and reached for the radio. Belcheck had already gotten out of the car to follow Yanes, whilst Chloe sat in shock, listening to Polston talk into the radio. Only, inside, her thoughts were practically racing – in her mind, this did not look like a suicide! Neither one of Avram or Hermann had shown signs they were willing to die for their cause and they certainly did not show signs they were going to kill each other. Then there was the fact they had no way of smuggling any explosives on them before they were put into the back of the truck and there was no way on earth that officers would place explosives on them if they were planning to help them commit suicide. There was only one option that seemed plausible – someone had planted a bomb within the truck to kill them. Or possibly even silence them; since Heller said he'd found evidence that this hijacking was not a single act but only part of a bigger act, what if someone was trying to get rid of them?

What not one single person knew, however, was that the carnage unfolding was being watched discreetly by the man who had collected the tubes of VX gas. He looked over his shoulder at the bundle of tubes on the backseats of his car before picking up a large portable radio. "Confirmation: Avram and Hermann have been eliminated. Jokanovic delivered. And the VX gas has been obtained. Returning to HQ" he said gruffly before starting up the car and driving off.

–

01:57:12AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Jack pulled on the second of his brown shoes and readjusted his outfit – he'd had a shower, the first in a long time and had changed from the Russian soldier outfit he had been in following his escape from Kiev into something a lot simpler. Plain jeans, a United States Navy polo shirt, white socks and brown shoes. He'd been on the carrier about 40 minutes and needed to find out how far they were from the East Coast of America – then he could fly out by helicopter to DC and solve this mystery once and for all. He walked towards the door and walked outside, only he couldn't find Seaman Quinn. He was sure that the Seaman was right outside his door when he left and if he had had to go off, surely he would have left a note or something similar.

He decided to go off and find the Admiral, completely unaware he was being watched. By the same woman monitoring his actions in Woodhouse's office.

–

 **America**

At a radio console in what looked like an underground series of offices, a male radio operator listened in to something – and his eyebrows rose in disbelief. He pulled the headset from his head and ran through the offices, towards multiple flights of stairs which he charged upwards. He arrived in front of a door and knocked repeatedly. "Ms Dimitrijevic?" he asked, his Polish accent clearly showing. No answer. "MS DIMITRIJEVIC?" he asked again, even louder. No answer. He was almost about to leave but then the door slid open – normally, Ms Dimitrijevic did not allow people into her office without permission but he had to check if she was in there. To his surprise, he found the office both dark and empty; part of him was telling him to get out now before he got into trouble but the other part of me kept egging him to have a look around. Lightly closing the door but not all the way so there was a tiny chink of light, the man looked all over the office for anything that indicated where Ms Dimitrijevic was but found nothing. But he did find what looked like a large microphone hooked up to a laptop on the desk. Picking it up, he rose an eyebrow when he found a series of strange options: Polish, Hungarian, Russian... and Serbian. Curious at this latter option, he found himself pressing down on the microphone. " **Testing, testing, one, two, thre...** " he started but then stopped. Even though he was Polish, the words he had just spoken were heard on the microphone as with a Serbian accent.

Something didn't make sense, the man thought and he put down the microphone, ready to get the hell out of the office... only to bump into a tall woman and fall back-first onto the floor. "Hello, Marek.." the woman said. "Ms... Ms Di... Ms Dimitrijev..." the Polish man, now identified as Marek, stuttered only to stumble back onto his feet and stop as he got a good look at the woman. "You're... you're not Ms Dimitri..." he said but he didn't get a chance to finish as a man around his age got him in a headlock and slammed a tazer into his heart. Marek had no chance of stopping it and within seconds, he fell to the floor, dead. "Good work, Evans" the woman said as she walked towards her desk. "Thank you, Ma'am.." the man identified as Evans responded. The woman sat down at her desk. "Now, as you were saying.." she pushed. "Oh, of course" Evans said as he picked up an iPad from on top of a casket, making sure to avoid Marek's body.

"Infrared satellite has detected a submarine heading towards the East Coast of America – from tracking its course, it's without a doubt the Yuri Dolgorukiy.." he started and the woman nodded. "What of our soldiers in Europe?" she asked. "They are in position and waiting to eliminate the enemy on your command" came the response. "Ok.. and what of Hermann?" she asked. "Hemslow reported in just minutes ago – the bomb exploded as expected; Hermann and any other survivors from the hijacking have all been killed!" Evans reported to which the woman nodded again. "What about Statewide Cell? Have you got positions on them?" she pushed. "Yes – I've been in contact with all 40 operatives. They are on their way to the city, they will be here in time for the first operation" Evans responded. "Excellent to hear. Is Hemslow on his way here?" the woman asked. "Yes, Ma'am. AND with all the tubes of VX gas!" again, there was another quick response from who looked like the second-in-command to the woman. The woman nodded and looked up at Evans, who almost had a bit of a humored look on his face.

"You know, Madame President, it's funny – considering the A.F.E are supposed to be citizens willing to die for their country, they've played right into our hands!" he explained. "Yes and that's what we're hoping for. The A.F.E are going to die, not knowing that they've actually provided a cover story for us! They think they're getting revenge for the countries of Europe and they will.. but in reality, they will have given us with the perfect cover for us to cement our place in the world of military!" the woman, identified as a "President" by Evans, declared as she flicked a switch on her desk and a large panel on the wall lifted up to reveal a large view-through screen, looking down on what looked like a production line.. of weapons. Guns were sorted into suitcases, bullets placed into boxes.. and in the far-left corner of what looked like a warehouse attached to the main building, were scientists working on what looked like some kind of advanced weapons jet. "How is everything coming along?" Evans asked as he joined the woman at the screen. "Very well, according to Hampson – the first batch of weapons are ready for the first assignment. And he thinks that we'll be ready to give final tests to Experiment #Sunderland09 within the next few hours" she replied. She then looked up at her second-in-command. "It's time.. make the call" she said and Evans nodded, activating a blue-tooth attachment on his ear.

"This is Evans calling all operatives on this frequency. Begin the cleanse; remove all active traces of European intelligence on-site.." he ordered. The woman watched him intently before turning back around to face the view-through screen. "It all begins here.." she said to herself.

–

21:00:00PM (02:00:00AM EST)

* * *

Hands up if you saw this coming!

But in all, what do you think: do you think the twist of the A.F.E being nothing than pawns in an even bigger plot is a great idea or do you feel they should have been the main antagonists throughout, much like Day 4? Have your say.


	11. 11: 2am - 3am (EST)

11: 2am – 3am (EST)

So we're nearly halfway through the story - what do you guys think so far? And of this chapter! Please continue to rate and review!

 **DISCLAIMER: See Chapter 1**

* * *

 **The following takes place between 2am and 3am, European Standard Time:**

–

21:00:01PM

 **Ronald Reagan National Airport**

Following the explosion that had ripped through the police truck, the intense fire and heat from inside had managed to weld the doors shut, contrary to what was first thought – what was perhaps even more surprising was that the doors had stayed in their place instead of being blown off. Belcheck was helping the police officer from the front car try to pull open the doors with a crowbar and with the Captain's intervention, they finally forced it open and one door just fell onto the floor. All three men looked inside, but it turned they needn't have bothered; where there were originally four European plane hijackers and a police officer guard, there was now nothing at all. No flesh remains, no bone remains, even the handcuffs were burnt to a crisp. "Anything?" Agent Yanes asked and Belcheck shook his head. "Nothing. No-one could have survived that, no less intact" the officer replied. Yanes put his hand against his forehead in frustration. "How could this have happened? Captain, you checked the vehicle yourself, didn't you?" he demanded to know. "I did check, you're quite right. Inside and underneath when we got here and there was nothing explosive!" the Police Captain replied.

"Well... ok, what about your officers?" the Secret Service agent started and the Captain looked up at him. "What about them?" he said, a bit confused.. but then he realized. "You.. You don't SERIOUSLY think that one of my men killed themselves, do you?" he asked, anger in his voice. "Sir, we have to cover every possibility.." Yanes attempted to defend his suggestion only to be punched in the face by the angry Captain. "My officers were GOOD MEN! I can't believe you're even suggesting that one of them committed suicide!" he continued, as the officer tried to hold him back. "Maybe there's another explanation!" Belcheck reasoned and the Captain started to calm down. "What might that be then?" Yanes inquired. "Until we search what we can of the truck, I don't know. You're right, we have to cover every possibility" the Serb replied, before climbing into the wreckage of the truck. "Could one of the hijackers have had time to smuggle some explosive onto their body?" the officer that had restrained the Captain asked. "Unlikely!" a voice called and everyone turned to see Chloe walk up. "They were all restrained and being closely monitored. They wouldn't have had a chance to smuggle explosives on themselves" she explained. The three men exchanged a look, wondering just how the truck could have been blown up if all the most likely scenarios had been ruled out.

"FOUND SOMETHING!" Belcheck suddenly yelled and everyone turned to face him as he came into view... holding what looked like a set of dog-tags. "Captain, do these look familiar?" the Serb asked, holding them out. The Captain picked them up and his eyes widened. "I... I... can't... these are the tags of one of my best officers; Paxman Kingsley!" he finally said. At first, it looked like his eyes were watering but then he stopped, confusion on his face. "Sir, didn't Kingsley go off duty for the night just a few hours ago?" the officer asked. "He did! From what I gathered, he knew nothing of Flight 681!" the Captain replied. Suddenly, the younger officer's radio buzzed to life. " _Captain Wisdom, report in, over!_ " a female voice said over the static. The Captain, now identified as Wisdom, grabbed the radio. "This is Wisdom" he said. " _Sir, this is Sgt. Monk. Don't ask me how, but I just found Officer Kingsley in a supply closet, tied up and gagged – what's more, his uniform and dog tags were missing!_ " the Sergeant replied and Wisdom did a double-take. " _Sir? Sir_ " the Sergeant said again as Wisdom looked at everyone else around him in shock. "I'll radio you back!" he said abruptly. "Now it makes sense! I think whoever tied up Kingsley snuck aboard the truck..." the younger officer said. "...and killed himself" Yanes finished.

Chloe looked deep in thought and Belcheck was about to ask when Agent Polston came up. "Ms O'Brian, Belcheck, we should probably get to the White House. The President is expecting you and it's a bit of a drive" he said as he heard the sound of sirens and noticed several airport fire and ambulance trucks coming towards them. Chloe nodded and the four headed back towards the car underneath the plane. Inside, Chloe was thankful for the interruption as she was worried she'd have to explain what she was thinking – her idea wasn't bad, but it needed evidence. Basically, she had a sneak suspicion that Hermann wasn't working alone. Because of what Heller and Jack had said about there being a planned attack on the country, she felt the hijackers were part of the plan. And that someone killed Hermann to shut him up, to stop him potentially revealing the plan. As she got into the car, next to Belcheck, she wished that Jack would hurry up in making it to DC – if there was someone who would believe her, it was him.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Jack was partly worried – he'd been looking all over the crew compartments for anyone on ship, but he'd be forgiven for thinking the carrier had been abandoned as he hadn't found anyone. He'd even tried the onboard communication system to try and connect with the carrier's main bridge but all he'd heard was static – he was just about to head out onto the carrier proper when he noticed that Admiral Woodhouse's office door was slightly ajar. Both concerned and suspicious, Jack walked over to it and slowly opened it for a proper look inside. "Admiral?" he asked, poking his head in. The room was seemingly empty. Jack pushed the door further open and walked inside, unaware he was still being followed. "Admiral?" he asked again, looking around from the middle of the room. Finally, the woman following him made her move – she walked forward, gun raised and would have probably knocked Jack out had he not seen her coming from the corner of his eye.

He moved sideways to face her and pulled her forward, making her drop her hold on the gun – but even though she'd lost her main weapon, the woman was not giving up as she kneed Jack in the groin area. The two wrestled for about another 15 seconds before Jack finally won out and forced the woman onto the wall that was to the left of the open door. "Who the hell are you working for?" he hissed, his thought process going into overdrive and immediately thinking that the woman was working with whoever had been trying to kill him following the helicopter shoot-down. "Jack!" a voice called out in shock and Jack turned to see the Admiral walking in, disbelief in his face. "What the hell are you doing?" he said, instinctively moving for his holster. "I came out of the shower to find that Quinn wasn't there – I went off to find him, but I couldn't find anyone. I found the door to your office ajar and I got worried the carrier had been attacked, only when I came in, I was set upon by her!" Jack explained, not once moving his eyes away from the woman against the wall. Woodhouse's face turned stern. "Ok, Jack.. you can let her go" he said and slowly, the former CTU agent released his grip and stepped backwards. Woodhouse turned towards the woman. "Care to explain yourself?" he asked and the woman kept quiet, the anger on her face still showing.

"You do realize this vessel is on high alert? Your role is to monitor the security and ensure nothing is out of the ordinary and yet I hear you effectively ABANDONED your post just to follow Mr Bauer? What is so important about Mr Bauer to you?" he demanded to know, clearly and sternly. The woman kept silent. "Well? I'm waiting, Ms Chappelle!" Woodhouse continued, not impressed by the lack of answer. "Wait, did you say Chappelle?" Jack asked, surprised. The woman, identified by her surname as Chappelle, nodded. "Your father... wouldn't have happened to have been Ryan, would it?" he continued. Chappelle. "Yes, but you should know that. After all, YOU'RE the one who killed him all those years ago!" she snarled in anger. Woodhouse looked up at Jack in surprise, as Jack put his head in his hands – Ryan Chappelle. The same Ryan Chappelle who he had been ordered to kill by then-President David Palmer during the Cordilla virus incident – not many people were fans of Ryan during his time, but his death had shaken up even Chloe, someone who just did not like him at all. But what was perhaps most surprising was that she had figured out it was him who killed Ryan. "What's your name?" he asked her finally. "Caitlin" she said bitterly. "Caitlin, listen. I may have killed your father all those years ago... but there's some things about it that you don't know" he insisted, knowing full well that certain details surrounding Ryan's death were kept from his family for the sake of national interest. "Ok; what are they?" Caitlin asked, bitterness still in her voice.

"Your father's death; it was a direct order from the President.." Jack said slowly and Caitlin's bitterness slowly started to fade, instead being replaced with shock. "Why would the President order for the death of my father?" the young Chappelle asked. "You know of the Cordilla virus incident?" the former agent asked and Caitlin nodded. "Not much, just that some mad British man used the virus as some kind of revenge against the government" she explained. "Well, you see... Saunders, the man behind the incident, was trying to mask his daughter's indirect involvement in the incident and at the same, your father was tracking some bank accounts Saunders had made – that's why he wanted your father dead. To protect his daughter" Jack replied. Caitlin couldn't believe what she was hearing. "My father was killed.. over money?" she asked. "I'm afraid so – look, I didn't want to kill him. I didn't like him but I didn't want to kill him, no least because a terrorist wanted it" Jack insisted.

Caitlin's eyes were starting to water so Woodhouse decided to wade in. "Jack, maybe we should give Chappelle a moment.." he suggested, only for Caitlin to interrupt. "No, no, it's ok. Just give me a minute" she insisted and Jack realized she was indicating something else. "Admiral, a minute?" he asked, indicating he wanted Woodhouse out of the room for a few minutes. The Admiral, realizing what he meant, rose an eyebrow but nodded and headed out of the office. The moment he was out of earshot, Caitlin looked up in regret. "I'm sorry.. all these years, I'd been under the belief my father had been killed in an accident. I guess when I found out he'd been murdered, I never stopped and thought about whether your hand had been forced" she said, at first choking the words out as she fought against the tears. Jack took her close. "Don't worry about it – you didn't know the whole truth, you had a right to be angry" he insisted, sympathetic towards the young Chappelle. "But I would have killed you if you hadn't stopped you! And whilst I don't know much, I do know that you're only onboard the carrier as a means of getting back to America" Caitlin protested, slowly realizing that she would have been in serious trouble for killing a largely innocent man. Jack shook his head vigorously.

"Listen, don't blame yourself. Nothing good comes from blaming yourself for something that wasn't your fault" he responded, his tone of voice making it clear that Chappelle should not be beating herself up. Finally, it seemed his words were finally getting through to her as her emotions seemed to be dying down. "Jack" a voice suddenly said and he looked up to see Woodhouse in the door entry, clutching a folded piece of paper. His expression was one of worry. "What?" Jack asked. The Admiral simply moved his head to indicate "walk with me" and Jack looked back at Caitlin who nodded and smiled as to say "Go. I'll be fine". "Thanks" he said quietly and headed out of the room. "You ok, Chappelle?" Woodhouse asked and Caitlin nodded. "Give yourself five minutes to compose yourself, then get back to work" he continued, his sympathetic tone of voice contradicting his stern face, before leaving.

"What's up?" Jack asked as Woodhouse joined him. "Communication from the White House. Flight 681 has landed in Washington. Everyone got off unharmed, including Ms O'Brian" the Admiral explained, still clutching the sheet of paper. Jack sighed in relief. "That's brilliant news" he said. But as Woodhouse kept silent, Jack stopped. "There's more, isn't there?" he asked and the Admiral said nothing. "Has something happened to Chloe?". "Not Ms O'Brian, no. But shortly after Flight 681 landed, the four surviving hijackers were taken into custody. But according to recent intelligence, all four of those men have been killed. The police truck carrying them exploded" Woodhouse replied as Jack gave him a look of confusion. "I don't understand.." he said. "Neither does anyone in Washington – the most likely explanation is suicide by one of the hijackers, but even then, no-one's too sure" the Admiral replied. Jack looked worried – if it wasn't suicide, then what could it be?

–

02:13:31AM

"How far are we from the East Coast?" he asked. "About an hour and 15 minutes; if you took off by helicopter within the next 25 minutes, you'd been in DC by about 10pm, Washington Eastern Time" Woodhouse explained. That was all Jack needed as he nodded and then walked towards the stairs towards the carrier runway rather quickly. "Jack?" the Admiral asked, only to get no response as the former agent opened the door and came out onto the carrier's runway – he quickly spotted not just the search-and-rescue helicopter that had rescued him following his fighter jet crashing into the sea, but also its pilot, Steven Wallace. "STEVEN!" he yelled and he ran across the almost empty runway as the helicopter pilot turned around. "Are you doing anything right now?" he continued. "Yeah, prepping the helicopter. I'm flying out to meet the CVN Dwight D. Eisenhower at Norfolk before 02:40 hours!" he explained, not looking back. "Any of a detour to the White House?" Jack asked and that was enough for Wallace to turn around, eyes wide. He'd thought Jack would stay on the Truman until they reached landfall. "I need to get to DC as soon as possible!" the agent explained further. Wallace looked behind and noticed Admiral Woodhouse, who gave a short nod.

"Ok, I can do that! But I intend to leave as soon as possible – I don't want to be delayed" he agreed, his tone of voice indicating he had no intention of falling behind schedule. Jack nodded, grateful. What none of them knew, however, was that several thousand miles above them was a drone – it wasn't an attack drone but more of a scout drone, armed with heat scanning equipment. It's onboard computer began to scan the carrier for heat signatures.

02:14:20AM

–

02:19:31AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Thousands of miles up the same ocean, onboard the Yuri Dolgorukiy, in front of another console was a seated Muratov, who smiled as Krylenko came into view. "Ok, what have you found that's so important?" she asked, a bit annoyed at being called away from her station. "Oh, only this.." the Russian said with a smug smile and he started rapidly typing on her console, which bought up a live video feed from above of the CVN Truman. "I temporarily hijacked control of a heat-seeking drone and noticed something out of the ordinary on this carrier – there are more heat signatures than usual on the carrier.." Muratov explained, the live feed showing quite a lot of red. Krylenko looked at him with bewilderment. "You called me away just for this?" she said angrily. "No – if anything, it made me suspicious. I delved further and take a look at this" the Russian said, typing rapidly once again and a security feed came up. "I stole this from the footage onboard the CVN Truman, the ship you just saw. And..." he continued, pressing down on a large button which started up the security feed. Krylenko's mouth opened as she saw Jack Bauer walking down some stairs.. which meant only one thing. He was alive. He had managed to trick both her and General Benediktov into thinking he'd been killed following the jet attack above the ocean.

"Quite important, wouldn't you say?" the Russian said, the sarcasm dripping from his voice in response to Krylenko thinking what he had found was not important. "I'll get the General!" she said quickly, running back towards the stairs in search of the senior Russian.

–

 **American Prison**

In an area of the prison pretty much unguarded and abandoned, a vent door was kicked open and Henderson crawled out of the vents. As he surveyed the area, he realized he was not too far from the main entrance – but as he peered out of the window, he realized as he expected, the front of the building was swarming with prison guards, prisoners and the fire department among others. He needed a distraction to get himself downstairs and out of the building undetected. He needed something flammable – and then he spied a maintenance cupboard. Pulling the door open, he scanned the interior and smiled as he found a very large can of patrol. Grabbing it and then spying a box of matches, he moved towards the window, making sure he wasn't seen, just in case. Opening up the petrol can, he then pulled a match from the box and lit it before dropping it into the can and running. He had just about made it around the corner when it exploded.

Outside, the explosion ripped through that portion of the building and set glass flying onto the unsuspecting people below, as a slight fireball flew through the air. Henderson charged down the stairs and found himself just in front of double doors leading to outside – now to find a way out of the building without being spotted clearly as a prisoner. Just then, he heard a sound of running footsteps and he moved to the side of the double doors and out of view as the doors flew open, armed soldiers charging in to investigate the fire. As the last one charged up the stairs, Henderson realized he had little time before they realized the explosion was not the fire spreading. He fell to his knees and started crawling underneath the window, to the right-hand side of the building – thankfully, because of the fire alarm, all doors had been automatically opened and as soon as he was out of immediate view from outside, he ran around the corner and past signs leading towards a "parking garage".

Outside, Henderson's guard was speaking with the warden. "You're absolutely sure of this, O'Neill?" the warden said. "Yes, sir! I tried to get Henderson as soon as I heard the explosion but then I realized he was in the same room as the fire!" the guard, now known as O'Neill, insisted. The warden seemed to accept it. "Ok, if you're sure. We'll be able to find out for definite once the fire department get things under control" the warden replied and O'Neill nodded, though of course he was worried inside as he knew full well Henderson was alive. " _Warden Seniors, come in, sir!_ " a voice suddenly crackled over and the Warden grabbed his radio. "This is Seniors!" he replied. " _Sir, that fireball we witnessed – it wasn't part of the explosion in the central area! Someone set this up as some sort of diversion_ " the voice replied and O'Neill's blood ran cold. "You're sure?" Seniors demanded. " _Yes, sir! Be wary!_ " was all the voice could reply before being abruptly cut off. Seniors looked back towards O'Neill when he heard what sounded like something crashing through walls. "What the.." he said before the crashing sounds became louder and everyone turned to see a prison truck charging out of the building at high speed... and straight towards them! It did swerve at the last minute and it did a 180 degree turn before the back of the truck slammed into the mass of police cars behind it. After a few seconds, the back doors were slammed open and Henderson emerged. "OI, O'NEILL!" he yelled and Seniors again looked at O'Neill.

"Much appreciated for all your work! Sorry it has to end this way.." he added, revealing he had a rocket launcher in his hands. Senior's eyes rose in horror as Henderson fired a rocket straight into a police car parked behind O'Neill – within an instance, the car exploded and O'Neill was caught in the blast, Seniors being forced to the ground by the shock-waves. In the meantime, Henderson had returned to the front of the truck and slammed on the accelerator and then the brakes, completing another 180 degree turn. All that stood between him escaping were several now-alert prison guards and police officers as he again forced down on the accelerator – several guards and officers started firing their guns in an attempt to stop him. Swerving through the parked cars, Henderson did initially encounter a problem when he slammed into the side of a police cruiser, but instead of stopping, the truck just pushed it a fair distance before turning... straight into the path of an ambulance. The ambulance driver instinctively swerved, but Henderson just managed to clip the side of it, the impact of which sent the ambulance flying onto its side. Now in front of the truck was the prison entrance checkpoint and the shocked guard only just made it outside before the truck slammed through it, destroying it in an instance.

The truck slammed to a halt just in front of a small trench on the side of the road and Henderson grabbed the rocket launcher, fitting another one inside – with another simple click of the launcher, the rocket flew towards what remained of the police cars. Even before the rocket had detonated, Henderson climbed back into the driver's seat and started the truck back up, turning it to the left. He smiled to himself – he'd done it. He had finally made the prison break he had spent months planning. "Next stop, DC.." he said to himself but as he stepped on the gas, he realized that the police were going to track him down. He needed to ditch the truck – as soon as he saw another vehicle, that is.

–

21:26:58PM

 **White House**

"So let me get this straight.." Baylis said as Heller put down the phone. "The prison truck carrying Hermann blows up before it's even left the airport and yet no-one has any idea on what happened?" he continued. "It's still early, Brian – nothing was ever figured out after 30 minutes!" McKaye reasoned. "That doesn't matter, we should be getting answers by now!" the adviser retorted. "Well, we do have some information, Brian, but we're still waiting on something that supports it" Heller pointed out. "Ok then, what information?" Baylis asked. He didn't mean to be coming off as pushy, he just wanted answers – after all, he was the National Security Advisor and he needed as much relevant information as possible, as he was seriously contemplating moving Heller to a more secure location.

"Well, according to Agent Polston shortly after the explosion, a set of dog tags were found in the remains of the truck belonging to a police officer – and then it was discovered that same police officer had been found tied up and gagged at his police station!" McKaye explained. Baylis's eyebrows rose in surprise. "At the minute, I think that whoever destroyed that truck and killed Hermann wanted to silence him in some way!" Heller added. "But who would want to kill Hermann?" Baylis asked. "Whoever it is that's working with him!" a voice suggested and the three men turned to see Chloe O'Brian in the doorway, with Agent Yanes and Belcheck, who was a tad surprised at what the former analyst had suggested. Had it not been for the situation at hand, Heller would have smiled at seeing the two but instead, he rose. "Ms O'Brian, you made it!" he said, moving from behind his desk as Chloe and Belcheck walked in. "That'll be all, Yanes. Thank you for bringing them here!" Heller thanked Yanes, who nodded. "Sir" he said before leaving, closing the doors behind him. "How you holding up?" the President continued, speaking directly to Chloe and referring to the sudden explosion that killed the hijackers. "Alright.." she said simply. Heller then turned to Belcheck and held his hand out to shake. "I appreciate you coming – I'll explain why in just a minute" he added as Belcheck finally accepted the offer and shook the open hand.

"McKaye, Baylis, this is Chloe O'Brian who used to work with my daughter many years ago.." Heller introduced and Chloe gave a slight smile. "..and this is Belcheck, who assisted Jack in stopping the attacks on London" he continued as the Serb gave a slight nod to the two Americans. "This is Brian Baylis, my National Security Advisor and Andrew McKaye from MI-5" he then introduced the two men that had worked with him closely following his return to DC. The moment he was finished, Baylis looked at Chloe. "What do you mean when you said that Hermann was killed by whoever he was working with?" he asked curiously. Realizing all eyes were on here, Chloe gave in and explained. "When Hermann was in control of the plane... part of me was convinced that he was working with someone. I mean, why hijack a plane only to issue such poor demands? That doesn't sound like the work of competent hijackers and I should know – I worked with Hermann!" she explained. The looks on both McKaye and Baylis's faces couldn't have been more contrasting: McKaye looked like Chloe had a point whilst Baylis was not as convinced.

"Ok, but what makes you think someone was working with him?" he asked. "I don't know. But following the explosion, I'm convinced he was. Why would someone take the identity of a police officer just to kill a German national not many people have heard of?" Chloe insisted. "Plus the presence of those dog tags at the scene – someone was clearly trying to throw us off the scent" Belcheck waded in, defending Chloe's suggestion. Several seconds passed before Baylis sighed. "Ok, maybe it doesn't make sense, maybe what you're suggesting is the case – but until we get some ID on who the killer is, I'm not sure what to believe" he conceded. "Well, we should find out pretty soon. The police station called before you got here, they're trying to identify the killer now" McKaye replied to the advisor, who nodded in response. "Any word on Jack?" Chloe asked. "Not yet, but from what I've gathered, he's still on the carrier and not too far off reaching landfall – he'll be here soon, I'm sure" Heller assured. Chloe was relieved inside as whilst no-one had come out directly against her theory, if there was anyone who'd not only believe her but would also go to hell and back to find evidence, it was Jack.

21:30:12PM

–

02:34:26AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

"Fellow members of Marina Cell.." Benediktov spoke into the submarine-wide radio, standing next to Krylenko and Muratov. "The next phase of our operation against America is about to begin! _We have recently discovered that contrary to our initial belief, Jack Bauer is alive and well. He is currently on a United States carrier charging towards the East Coast of America – as it is, if he makes landfall, our carefully laid out plans are at risk._ This is our last chance to kill him. Let's make it count!" he declared before shutting off the radio. "Is it ready?" he asked Muratov. "Yes, sir!" the Russian replied, handing his his fellow national one of the remote controls. "I've already plotted in its course – it will take off from the submarine and fall back into the water. This way, it will avoid detection" he added confidently. The General nodded, opening up the control to reveal a red button in the centre. "Launching in three... two... one.." he said before pressing down on the button. One of the submarine missile hatches opened up and within seconds, the missile flew out of the water and some distance into the sky before turning horizontally and then back down into the water, like as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Onboard the Truman, meanwhile, Wallace was starting up the helicopter and the rotor blades began spinning, gradually picking up speed. The door to inside the carrier opened up and Jack emerged, quickly walking towards the helicopter. Wallace saw him and nodded. "Jack!" a voice called and he turned around to see Woodhouse. "Safe journey back – let me know if I can be of further help" he said, holding his hand out to shake. "Thank you, Admiral" Jack replied, shaking his hand. "And I will do" he added before releasing his hand from the shake and walking onto the helicopter. Of course, no-one knew of the missile flying towards the carrier from under the water.

By now, the helicopter was at take-off speed and Jack climbed into it, ready to close the cargo door. Then everything went to hell.

The missile slammed into the carrier, about halfway between the left end of the vessel and the halfway point, exploding on impact – rather unfortunately, it had struck the engine room and the impact turned the area into a blazing inferno. Even worse, part of a fireball slammed into one of the fuel tanks, which ruptured under the intense heat and exploded. Seaman and naval officers who were quite to the engine room were all either caught in the blast or blown off their feet by the shock-waves. One by one, each and every door running along the halls were blown off by explosions, whilst the exterior was blasted open underneath the water

On-deck, another explosion ripped through the main control room and set anyone out in the open air or open water flying – Woodhouse was forced to the runway ground by the shock-waves and Jack was suddenly slammed into the helicopter interior, whilst the glass windscreens all around Wallace shattered into pieces. As a result, he accidentally shifted the helicopter controls to the right, which was a bit of a bad thing as the search-and-rescue aircraft was only a few feet off the ground and because of the sudden control loss, the immediate right of the helicopter slammed back down onto the runway and would have slid into the ocean had it not been for the carrier suffering another explosion, which then led to the whole vessel sinking into the water on the left and because only the left of the vessel was damaged, the right-hand side suddenly swung upwards and the helicopter somehow regained balance as it flew back into the air.

As Jack came to his senses, he realized what was happening as Wallace battled with the helicopter controls. On the ground, Woodhouse dared not get up as he saw the destruction happening all around him – but he could just about make out the helicopter trying to fly upwards above him. But then he saw something that turned his blood cold – a fireball had struck one of the fighter jets and it was in the midst of exploding. But somehow, it then managed to launch a missile towards another fighter jet, which then also exploded. Only this time, it sent a fireball flying upwards and right in the direction of the helicopter! "JACK!" the Admiral yelled and Wallace looked up to see the fireball coming straight at him. "SH*T! JACK, HOLD ON!" he yelled and fought desperately to turn the helicopter away but it was too late. The fireball slammed into his side of the helicopter, very nearly sending Jack flying out of the open cargo door. But the damage was done – because of the broken glass, parts of the fireball made contact with the pilot section of the search-and-rescue aircraft and the helicopter began to fall back down onto the runway. As the remnants cleared, Jack realized that Wallace was badly burnt from what had happened and he grabbed a hold of the pilot, pulling him from the seat and grabbed the main controls – this single action just about saved both their lives as had he been a few seconds too late, they would have crashed into one of the burning fighter jets.

Instead, he pulled the controls upwards and the damaged helicopter overflew the sinking carrier. Woodhouse watched, relieved Jack was ok. But then the ground beneath him started shaking and before he could do anything, he was enveloped in another explosion – by now, the top of the vessel was a fireball and the smoke was visible even from miles away. Despite his extensive burns, Wallace could just about make out the smoke from where he was lying. "You... left them.." he said, shock evident. Jack shook his head. "I didn't have a choice – had we stayed even a few seconds longer, we would have been caught in the explosion" he said grimly. He had to get to the President and call for help, but then he realized that the radio was damaged. He'd be lucky to even get out one message to anyone.

–

21:39:23PM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

"Any signs?" Benediktov asked in exasperation as Krylenko and Aralica scanned the incoming details on their consoles, desperate to find out if they had finally got Bauer. "Nothing yet, General" the Croatian said first. "WELL, WHAT is the holdup?!" the Russian cried, his voice full of frustration. "The first explosion knocked out most of the CCTV – we're trying to reconnect now, see if anything survived" Krylenko explained. "Well, GET A MOVE ON!" Benediktov demanded, the frustration emitting from his body. Suddenly, he could just about hear the phone he'd been using to talk with Dimitrijevic in his office – he wasn't too far from there. "I'll be right back" he said quietly, retreating into the office. Closing the door tight, he picked up the phone. "Ms Dimitrijevic.." he said quietly.

" _ **HOW GOES THINGS, GENERAL**_ **?** " the recognizable-Serb voice asked, though of course, Benediktov had no idea that he was actually speaking to the unidentified President, who was speaking through the microphone the now-dead Marek had found earlier. The Russian bit his lip. "Bauer's alive! You were right" he finally said. " _ **I SEE..**_ **I'm guessing that explains the missile launched from the very north of the North Atlantic Ocean?** " the female President asked. She could hear Benediktov almost gasp. " _How do you..._?" he spluttered. " **Relax, Andre, I'm not spying on you.** _ **I WAS ONLY ASKING AS I'M CURRENTLY SPYING ON SATELLITES AND THEY PICKED UP A MISSILE BEING LAUNCHED FROM THE NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN –**_ **that wouldn't have happened to be you, would it?** " she replied. Benediktov was silent for a few seconds. " _It was_ – but as I have already mentioned, I have good reason.." he said. " _ **I APPRECIATE THAT, ANDRE. HOWEVER, YOU KNOW AS WELL AS I DO THAT IF**_ **we are going to stand any chance of destroying the Presidency, we need a full armament!** _ **YOU CAN'T JUST SHOOT AT ANYTHING THAT MOVES – YOU HAVE LIMITED MIRVed MISSILES AS IT IS!**_ " the unknown President said. "I know _._ But I can assure you, Melina, that this will stop – _we used one missile to shoot down the Chief of Staff and another to attack the Truman! We're hoping that_ the attack on the Truman was enough to kill him!" the General replied.

There was silence on the woman's end. " _ **YOU KNOW I HAVE COMPLETE FAITH IN YOU, ANDRE –**_ **and I have complete faith you've taken care of Bauer. But for our mission to succeed** _ **, YOU HAVE TO STOP LAUNCHING THE MISSILES. AT LEAST WAIT UNTIL YOU'RE NEAR THE EAST COAST!**_ " she finally said, sternness in her tone of voice. "Yes, Melina. Of course.." Benediktov replied. The woman sighed and placed her hand on her forehead. " **I'll see you in a few hours, Andre. Take care..** " she promptly said before hanging up. After a few seconds, she almost smirked. "Oh, Andre... it's still not clicking into place for you. You just don't know who you're dealing with" she said to herself. Suddenly, as if on cue, her phone rang. She picked up the receiver. "Yes?" she asked. " _President Walkman, this is Kitzman. Mr Hampson requires your assistance in the research lab. It's about Project Connaughton_ " the man explained. "I'll be right down" she said before hanging up. Now, what Kitzman didn't know was that Project Connaughton was actually Experiment #Sunderland09 – to deter the attention of the majority of scientists away from what it really was, #Sunderland09 was given a second codename of Project Connaughton and was widely assumed to be a joint-military program.

The moment the woman, or President Walkman as said by Kitzman, put the phone down, she got up and headed towards the door.

–

 **White House**

Agent Polston ran through the corridors as fast as he could, slamming his way through White House representatives blocking his path, before bashing the door to the Oval Office open – everyone looked up in surprise. "Mr President, I'm sorry to interrupt! One of our carriers has been attacked!" he said desperately. Heller's face immediately turned grim. "What happened?" he asked. "I don't know the full details, but according to the guy I just spoke to, there was a sudden explosion on the Truman and the whole vessel is now ablaze.." the agent started to explain but Chloe interrupted. "Did you say the TRUMAN?!" she demanded. A simple nod was all it took and the former analyst's face was one of complete panic. "Jack.." she said quietly. Heller got up from his seat and walked towards the Secret Service agent. "Any other details?" he asked. "There's not much, sir. The person kept cutting in and out throughout the call, but what I do know is that he's coming straight here. And with a casualty" Polston replied. Heller nodded. "Alert nearby vessels, active or stationed. Get people to that carrier NOW!" he ordered. "Yes, sir" the agent replied and turned to leave. He was almost halfway out the door when a loud voice stopped him.

"WAIT!" Polston quickly turned around to see McKaye standing up, everyone looking startled by his loud demand and looking up at him. Seconds passed by until the MI-5 agent finally asked his question. "Do you know WHO you spoke to on the helicopter?" he asked. Polston slowly shook his head. "I only just got the details of the Truman attack itself before the radio on the helicopter's end just cut off – either the radio was damaged or the person flying that helicopter might have been behind the attack!" he explained. Baylis bit his lip whilst exchanging a look of worry with the British agent, Chloe and Belcheck. "Whilst you're alerting the Naval vessels, get in touch with ALL Air Traffic Control points in the city – tell them to widen their search radius and to be on the lookout for a search-and-rescue helicopter!" Heller ordered. "Of course, Mr President!" Polston agreed before finally leaving the Oval Office. "Jim..." a voice said and Heller turned to look at his National Security Adviser. "I would seriously recommend we move you to the safe-room or, failing that, the bunker. If a helicopter with a potentially dangerous suspect is coming here, your safety is going to be compromised!" Baylis insisted. McKaye's face seemed to suggest that he had a point. "I appreciate your concern, Brian. But I don't think that will be necessary" Heller insisted. Belcheck, who had been surprisingly quiet, was next to speak up. "I'm with Baylis on this! The person radioing in might have said he was coming in on a search-and-rescue helicopter but that doesn't mean he's being truthful. He could be flying in on a heavily armed helicopter for all we know!" the Serb said, siding with the NSA.

"And for all we know, he might not be! As it is, we just don't know – the person flying in might well be involved with the Truman attack but until we get more information, I am not going anyway!" Heller insisted, his tone of voice now stern. "I'm with the President on this; we need more information before we do anything! No use planning ahead if the danger turns out to be non-existent" Chloe explained, siding with the President. Finally, Baylis caved. "Ok, if that's how you feel, sir.. but if I hear ANYTHING out of the ordinary, I will personally drag you to the safe-room" he said, seriousness in his voice. Heller nodded, understanding the delicacy of the situation. Suddenly, the phone on the President's desk started to ring rapidly and being the closest one to it, McKaye scrambled to his feet. "President's office" he said. " _Hello, is the President available? This is Commander Barlow from the Metropolitan Police Department, First District. Calling about identifying the supposed killer at the airport?_ " the man replied. "Of course! One second!" McKaye replied before motioning Heller over and mouthing "Police commander". Nodding, the President took the phone. "This is Heller" he said. " _Mr President, hello! Commander Barlow! We've reviewed the CCTV footage_ of what happened with Officer Kingsley and we found a match on who took his place at the airport!" the commander explained. " _Ok_ , who was it?" Heller asked in reply. He expected the police commander to reply within seconds so was a little taken aback when there was no immediate reply. "Commander?" he asked.

"I think you should look at the details for yourself, sir – _do you have a computer or a laptop near you_?" Barlow said. Surprised at such a request, Heller scanned the surrounding area and instantly spied McKaye's iPad, which was sitting on the table right in front of him. He motioned the iPad to McKaye, who quickly realized and picked it up, bringing it back with him. "Ok, I've got a computer. What do you need?" he continued, remembering to press down on the speaker button. " _On the program for shared information_ , type in 0-7-5-3-7-9-2-4A" Barlow instructed as McKaye slowly typed in the numbers. The iPad screen then moved swiftly towards a police site. "It requires a pass-code. 6 letters!" Heller said. " _The letters are_ A-P-R-G-T-V!" the commander revealed and McKaye typed in the letters – within an instance, the screen of the tablet device started to download a series of data pulls, which culminated in the same details that Barlow was looking at being transferred to the iPad screen. "Ok, commander, we got it! Give us a few minutes to look it over, I'll ring you back!" Heller said before hanging up. Baylis, Chloe and Belcheck all got up and walked over to McKaye as he scanned the information. "What have you got?" Baylis asked. "Well, it's not someone I've heard of, that's for sure..." the MI-5 agent started to explain, only to be interrupted almost instantly by Belcheck.

"No... it couldn't have been.." he said, his voice almost going down to a whisper. "You know him?" Baylis said, taken aback. "KNEW him, yes. That's Stefan Jokanovic – he was a former friend of mine before I joined the mob. But then he went rogue. REALLY rogue. Tried to kill the Serbian Minister of Foreign Affairs but it backfired. He went on the run, no-one heard from him again.." the Serb explained. "Well, according to this, he settled down in America about three years ago. Clearly managed to keep himself out of trouble as even though the FBI had him on their international watch-list, no-one suspected he was even in the country" McKaye said, surprised that Belcheck had knowledge of him. "..until now" Baylis added. Chloe slowly started to walk off in thought. "Doesn't make sense.." she said to herself. "Chloe?" Belcheck asked, having been the only one to hear her speak. "This doesn't make sense! Jokanovic was European – so why would he kill himself just to kill other Europeans?!" she finally said. "What are you saying?" McKaye asked. "Don't you get it?! This is what I've been trying to say – there's someone else at work out there and they must have wanted Hermann silenced!" she insisted, almost essentially repeating what she'd said earlier but with this new information having come to light, she felt it needed to be repeated.

Heller looked deep in thought whilst McKaye, Baylis and Belcheck all exchanged a look – it seemed Chloe's theory was starting to make sense. But now an even bigger question emerged; just who wanted to silence Hermann? And why? And if anything, what might they be planning?

–

21:46:01PM

 **American Road**

Climbing into the front seat of a Chevy pickup truck was Henderson, who quickly attached the blue-tooth headset on the vacant seat to his ear before starting up the truck and driving up – behind him was a small trail of destruction; the prison truck he'd used to escape from the prison was now lying on its side on the middle of the road and inside the back of the truck was the body of a dead young woman, her throat slit and blood stains clear on her leggings. She had clearly been the driver of the pickup truck.

Activating the headset, Henderson typed in a number on the phone.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Following his chat with "Dimitrijevic", Benediktov had waited patiently in the small submarine office, waiting for any news on whether they had gotten Bauer. Suddenly, the phone rang and he immediately picked it up. "Hello?" he asked, knowing full well the number he'd given out for him to be personally contacted with was only given to two people. " _General!_ It's good to hear your voice!" Henderson said, relieved the number still worked. Benediktov, on the other hand, was taken aback. "I'm sorry, who is this?" he asked in surprise. " _Oh come now, Andre! Don't_ _tell me you've already forgotten_! Ok, I'll give you a little hint – this is the first time you've heard my voice properly!" the American explained. The Russian general's eyes rose. "Henderson? Is that you?" he said quietly. "It is! I made it out of the prison – I'm currently en-route to DC as we speak" Henderson explained. Benediktov smiled in relief. "That's brilliant news – did everything _go as planned_?" he asked. "Well, not quite as according to plan as I'd hoped for; _but the main thing is, I'm out! I'll be in DC in just a few hours_ " came the American's reply.

Benediktov nodded. "Ok, that's good. Think you can avoid trouble _whilst I make my way to the East Coast?_ " he asked. "Oohhh... _I think I can do that_ " Henderson said with just a little hint of sarcasm in his voice. " _Anyhow, I've got to go.._ I only phoned in to let you know I was out – now I have to contact someone else" the American added in before the Russian could say anything else. " _That's fine –_ I appreciate you letting me know, Henderson. Thank you.." Benediktov replied. " _No worries. I'll see you in_ a few hours" the American said before hanging up. Almost immediately, he typed in another number and pressed down on the green option. The dial tone rang about three times before being answered. " _Yes_?" a gruff male voice said. "This is Henderson. Phase one is complete. This is the go-ahead for Phase two!" Henderson said sternly. " _Understood. I take it Benediktov is none the wiser?_ " the gruff voice asked. "Confirmed. Benediktov has no idea of what's going on" the American said. " _Very well. Will reestablish contact as soon as target has been captured!_ " the voice added before hanging up.

21:47:45PM

–

21:51:21PM

 **Trenton, New Jersey**

For a late night in the bustling city of Trenton in New Jersey, the main building for the Trenton Police Department was somewhat quiet. So quiet in fact that the man on the front desk didn't notice the young woman walking towards him. "Excuse me?" she asked and the main looked up in surprise, almost dropping his magazine. "Oh, sorry, miss! How can I help you?" he asked. "I reported my car stolen about two hours ago – I got a phone call.. from about ten minutes ago saying it had been found and bought here?" the woman asked. The officer quickly looked over the notes on his clipboard and looked back up. "Registration number MD4P QVT?" he asked. "Yes, that's it!" she replied. "Ok.. I'll just need a few more details from you to confirm and then I'll hand you over to my partner!" the officer said and the woman nodded in agreement. "Your name is Kimberly Wesley?" he asked and the woman, Kim, nodded. "If I can see some ID?" he asked further and Kim pulled her driver's license out of her pocket. The officer scanned it. "Yep, that's all in order with what I've got. Give me a second and I'll call my partner in!" he said before picking up his radio. "Machin? I've got the owner of the stolen Ford Fusion out here" he said. " _Ok, I'll be there in a second_ " a female voice replied. A few seconds passed by before the door electronically opened and a young female officer emerged, smiling. "Kim, right?" she asked and Kim nodded. "I'm Officer Machin – we've got the car waiting and it's pretty much undamaged" Machin introduced herself and shook Kim's hand. "..we'll just need a few extra details from you before you can go" she added and Kim nodded again.

The two headed off into the room that Machin had come from – but the minute the door closed, the first officer's jolly demeanor changed and his expression become stern. He flicked a switch underneath his desk, which in turn activated some sort of beacon inside a black van parked just across the street. "She's inside – are we ready to go?" a tall man asked, looking towards five other men, all of whom all nodded. "Very well; activate the explosives.." he ordered. "But sir, our source inside is not clear" one of the men argued. The tall man simply eyed him. "You heard my orders, Turner" he said before opening up the side door to the van. Inside the station, the officer sat back and picked up his magazine from the floor. He was just about to turn the page when he heard what sounded like a droning sound.

"I'll just be one second" Machin said as she retreated into a side room. At that exact moment, Kim's phone started to ring. She quickly checked the Caller ID and quickly realized it was her husband, Stephen. "Hey.." she said, smiling weakly. " _Everything ok? Did the police find the car?_ " Stephen asked, watching over a crib. " _Yeah, surprisingly really quickly_. But I'll have to stay overnight with Andrea and drive back home first thing tomorrow" Kim replied. " _Ah, that's expected._ But at least the car's found" the young doctor replied. " _Yeah, that's true._ How are the kids?" she replied. "I'm currently sitting next to my little monkey – he dropped off sound asleep hours ago and hasn't woken up once, even if Teri's making as much noise as possible!" Stephen said, half-laughing at the end. Kim gave a little smirk. " _That little madam.._ how's she doing?" she asked. " _Oh, she's being stubborn as always – refusing to go to sleep._ She must have inherited that from your dad!" he said. Kim rolled her eyes, but she was right – Teri was just like her grandfather in being stubborn and refusing to admit defeat. She was about to talk again when she spotted Machin coming out of the side-room. "I've got to go. I'll ring back in a few minutes" she quickly said before hanging up.

The exact moment that happened, a huge explosion ripped through the wall behind her and sent her flying into her front, whilst Machin was sent flying backwards into a table. Outside, the group of men witnessed the explosion rip through the front of the building. "GO!" the tall man ordered and the six-strong men charged towards the burning building, whilst the van-driver slammed down on the accelerator. Inside, Kim slowly got to her feet and witnessed the chaos all around her, before noticing Machin in front of the table. She quickly ran over to her and pulled her to her feet. "Where are the keys to my car?" she asked as the officer's eyes widened and she saw what was happening. "The keys?" Kim continued desperately and now more alert, Machin quickly handed over the keys. "Follow me!" she said and the two ran through the back-room, which let to an indoor-parking lot. Kim scanned the area for her car and spotted it, dragging Machin along with her. "We can't just leave them!" the officer protested, indicating anyone who might still be in the building. "We can't risk it; we could well be the only people left alive.." Kim explained, before there was a sudden gunshot and Machin fell to the ground dead, a bullet having entered her skull. Kim looked up in horror and saw a gun-man. "THERE SHE IS! SHE'S HERE!" he yelled towards his colleagues and Kim instantly realized he meant her. Getting herself into the car as quickly as possible, she forced the key sidewards and turned the engine on. With the gun-man getting closer, she slammed down on the petals and the car flew forwards. She quickly turned it towards the barrier exit, as the gun-man tried firing shots at her to get her to stop, to no avail.

The car slammed through the barrier and out onto the road, where the traffic was rather hectic, owing to the fact the front of the station was on fire. Even though she knew she was driving straight into head-on traffic, Kim knew she didn't exactly have the luxury of time on her hands, now that she knew it was more than likely those who had attacked the station were after her. She swerved through the masses of traffic, unaware of the black van coming towards her on the left. A police officer on a motorbike witnessed going up against the one-way traffic and started to follow her, sirens blazing. Kim could see this in her rear-view mirror and bit her lip. This was not what she needed. However, the van then came blazing out of a cross-road from the left... and it slammed into the police officer on his motorbike, sending him flying, before swerving and chasing after Kim. She swerved to the left, going down a not-as-busy road as fast as she could. The van driver, however, was getting closer and closer. Finally, Kim took her eyes off the road for a second more than she needed to, which meant she didn't see the truck with a flatbed of logs emerging onto the road.

As a result, the truck clipped the back of the car which made Kim lose control and it flipped onto its back, sliding along the road for quite a distance. Shocked at what had happened, the the truck driver climbed out of his cab and pulled his phone out.. but before he could even start dialing his number, she was shot multiple times by the van driver who pulled up just in front of the truck and got out of the driver's seat. As he walked towards the car, he pulled the phone out of his pocket and sent a text out. It read: "Bauer's daughter is secured. En-route to DC with her". Inside the car, Kim was just about conscious and within her attempts to keep awake, she saw a strange man wearing all black walking towards her.

–

 **DC Airspace**

The search-and-rescue helicopter was now overflying DC, moving in from the east as Jack searched the skyline for the White House. He could clearly hear the slight groans of Steven next to him, as he tried to cope with his burns. "It's ok, Steven.. we're nearly there" he said as the helicopter flew through the air, surprisingly still intact from the fireball. In the Air Traffic Control tower at the Ronald Reagan National Airport, a radar operator watched the main radar carefully, looking for anything that appeared out of the blue. As if on cue, a new icon appeared on the radar and the operator appeared to recognize it. "This is Air Traffic Control calling... SaR781. Do you read me?" he spoke into his headset. There was silence – in fact, there was not even any static. "Air Traffic Controll calling SaR781. Do you read me, over?" the operator tried again. Again, nothing. Not even any dead air or static. The operator turned to a colleague. "Alert the White House – we've found their helicopter and it's not responding to any of our calls!" he ordered.

In the sky, Jack knew full well that his radio wasn't working. There was a chance that those on the ground might think he was a rogue, so he had to be careful. As he flew past the Washington Monument, he gave a little smile – right in front of him was the White House. He was finally back in America after four long years. On the ground, several guards on patrol noticed the helicopter and moved forward, guns raised at who they might be facing. Jack began to push the controls down, deciding to land right in front of the building. McKaye walked through the corridors of the building until he reached the entrance to the building – he could see the helicopter moving closer towards the ground, ready to land. As he got closer, Jack could see the armed guards and he knew that he would have to try and convince them of who he was. He just hoped they weren't that trigger-happy.

–

22:00:00PM

* * *

So what are you thinking at that:

1\. Do you feel the story involving Jack being followed was underwhelming? I only put it in as I felt it was quite poor to see Ryan Chappelle used throughout the first three seasons and then forgotten about altogether! Please, let me know!

2\. What are you thinking about the antagonists? You see the A.F.E seemingly becoming pawns to a bigger plan involving the mysterious President Walkman and then you see Henderson plotting something else!

3\. What do you think might happen with regards to the other chapters? Have your say! I'll get Chapter 12 up as soon as I can


	12. 12: 10pm - 11pm (WET)

12: 10pm – 11pm (W.E.T):

Hello, hello, hello! Here is Hour 12, which means we are now halfway through the story. I apologize if you think not much happens in this story, but trust me, a lot is going to happen in the last 12 chapters - I've already got the main plot-line figured out for the next four parts and trust me, you will not be disappointed. Keep the reviews coming!

 **DISCLAIMER:** See Chapter 1

* * *

 **The following takes place between 10pm and 11pm, Washington Eastern Time:**

–

22:00:01PM

 **White House**

The search-and-rescue helicopter was nearing the grass and Jack could see the armed gun-men starting to surround where he was landing. Finally, the wheels touched down on the grass and Jack started to turn off the rotor blades, before picking up the injured body of Steven and ensuring his arm was around his shoulder. But he wasn't even out of the helicopter itself before he found himself almost nearly surrounded by agents and gun-men. "Federal agents! Hands in the air!" one of them yelled. "I'm here on order of the President, I have a casualty!" Jack yelled back under the dwindling drone of the helicopter rotor blades, to no avail. "Sir, put your hands behind your head and interlock your fingers NOW!" the agent yelled back, refusing to listen. McKaye rushed out of the front of the building towards the scene. He tried to see who the agents were surrounding. "Move back, that's an order!" he demanded and two agents, albeit reluctantly, moved backwards. The MI-5 agent's eyes rose. "Mr Bauer?!" he shouted in surprise. Jack looked up at him, just about hearing his name being shouted and nodded. "Ok, everyone – stand down! He's with us!" McKaye continued and the agents slowly moved backwards as the MI-5 agent moved over to Jack.

"We need a medic out here!" he yelled, referring to Steven whilst two agents helped the helicopter pilot to his feet."We spoke earlier, Jack. I'm Andrew McKaye, MI-5" he said, whilst holding his hand out. Remembering they had indeed spoken about three hours ago, the American shook the Brit's hand. "Sorry about this, but we had no idea who was on the helicopter" he continued, referring to the guards standing down. "Don't worry, it's expected" Jack insisted as he got out of the helicopter proper and the two walked back to the front of the building. "What's the situation – anything happened since we last spoke?" he asked. "Yes, quite a bit actually. But you'll know what you need to once we speak with the President – as it is, the most recent information we got has thrown everything we thought we knew completely out of the window" the MI-5 agent explained and Jack looked taken aback. "How do you mean?" he inquired. "You'll find out when you speak to the President. And Mr Belcheck.." he replied, mentioning Belcheck owing to the fact that he knew who they now thought was the suicide bomber that killed Hermann. "Wait. Belcheck's here?" Jack asked, surprised. "Yes, and your friend Ms O'Brian. The President requested their help in dealing with today's events" McKaye replied before walking off, Jack quickly catching up.

In the Oval Office, Baylis was watching over the main phone intently, waiting for any information on who had just landed. "For god's sake, Brian! Just calm down, won't you? If there's any new information on the helicopter, the Secret Service will act!" Heller said, exasperated at his National Security Advisor; whilst he could understand why he was doing it, he knew that the Secret Service were on hand to keep him safe. Baylis looked up at his commander-in-chief in amazement. "Jim, how the hell can you be SO CALM?! There are terrorists out there intent on destroying our country and yet you're brushing it off like it's nothing!" he yelled. Chloe and Belcheck exchanged a look – they could feel the anger emanating in the room. The events in London, coupled with the events of the last few hours, had everyone on edge. "I AM NOT BRUSHING IT OFF AS NOTHING! I knew FULL WELL what the terrorists can be capable of, but I feel we should look at things from another point of view instead of letting things overwhelm us!" Heller yelled back, angry at how Baylis tried to turn everything into an argument. At that moment, McKaye walked back and was halfway through the open door when he noticed Baylis about to explode. He decided to intervene. "Mr President!" he said and Heller turned to face him, though still rather angry. "WHAT?" he yelled before regretting shouting. "I'm sorry, son – what is it? Who was on the helicopter?" he asked again, this time a lot calmer. "Well, what we were told checks out. There were two people onboard, one of them injured and getting treated now.." McKaye started. "And what of the second person?" Belcheck inquired. The MI-5 agent smiled and walked to his right.. as Jack walked in.

Heller, Chloe and Belcheck could not believe what they were seeing. There was Jack, standing right in front of them and without as much of a scratch considering they had all thought he was on the Truman when it was attacked. "Jack!" Chloe instantly sprung to her feet, relieved to see the "only friend she had" and pulled him into a hug. "I don't understand; how can you be here?" she asked and Jack gave a slight half-smile. "It's a long story.." he explained as he noticed Belcheck coming up towards him. "Chloe" he said, hoping his friend would get what he was saying. Albeit reluctantly, the former analyst released him from the hug, enabling Jack to hold his hand out. "Belcheck.." he said, smiling as the Serb accepted the offer of the handshake. "Thank you for keeping Chloe safe" he added, grateful. The Serb gave his own half-smile – he knew that Jack didn't have many friends that were still alive and that he didn't really count as one of them, but he could see that the American was pleased to see him.

"Mr President" Jack said as he turned towards Heller. "Jack.." the President replied, holding his hand out to shake which Jack quickly accepted. Considering he'd been trying to find Jack for hours before-hand, Heller was absolutely relieved to see his daughter's former lover alive and well. "There are some things about your escape that don't make sense.." he started only for Jack to interrupt. "I'll explain later, sir. For now, let's just sort out what's been going on" he said, to which Heller nodded. Baylis came over. "Jack, this is Brian Baylis. He's my National Security Advisor" the President introduced and Jack shook his hand. "Sir" he said, respecting the NSA who nodded. "Heard anything from the Truman?" he said quietly to Heller who gave an uncomfortable look. "Last update from before you landed, it had half sunk. Doesn't look like more than 20-40 survivors.." he said and Jack's face fell. He turned his body around and walked a few steps away from the President before turning back around to face everyone. "Ok, I want an update! What's happened since I last spoke to Chloe?" he asked, obviously unaware of what had happened following Flight 681 landing. An uncomfortable silence fell across the room before Chloe finally spoke up. "The hijackers are all dead" she said and Jack gave her a look of confusion.

"I don't understand, isn't that a good thing?" he asked. "Well it would be if not for the fact that it seems one of them was murdered.." McKaye explained. Jack looked at him in surprise. "Basically, when Belcheck and I retook the plane, four hijackers were left alive. When we landed, they were taken into police custody. But not long afterwards, the hijackers were killed in what looks like a suicide attack" Chloe continued, Jack listening intently. "What makes you think it was a suicide attack?" he asked. "Because we found evidence that the killer stole the identity of a police officer scheduled to go to the airport before-hand – what we can't understand is why he killed the hijackers, considering he was Eastern European" Belcheck added. Jack was stumped – they had someone with the means and they could place him at the scene. But they didn't have a motive as at the minute, it didn't make sense for an Eastern European man to kill four hjiackers who were essentially from the same continent. "Ok.. so what are you thinking?" he asked. "At the minute, we've no proof but I think that Hermann was working with someone – and that someone must have wanted him silenced, which is why he was killed" Chloe reasoned. Jack thought about it for a few seconds. "It has to be some kind of European movement, that's all I can think of – besides, Chloe said the hijackers were all European and the men chasing me across the Ukraine were either Russian soldiers or Ukraine rebels.." he offered up.

"And then there's the fact that the woman who hijacked that drone in pursuit of Jack was Spanish-born!" McKaye added and now everyone was starting to get a possible idea of what was happening. "I have a feeling that whoever attacked the Truman must have been European!" Jack said and Heller looked towards McKaye. "Get in contact with as many European countries as possible – find out who is behind this!" he ordered. "Yes, sir" the MI-5 agent said as he started to head back out of the room. "Chloe, I want you to go help him" Jack suddenly said. Chloe looked at him in surprise but then she looked into his eyes and nodded. "On it" she said, joining the MI-5 agent. "Brian, I'm tasking you with briefing the rest of my Cabinet – I need to talk with Jack and Belcheck alone" Heller told his adviser. "Of course, sir – if you need my help at all, just ring me!" Baylis agreed and left the office quickly. "Right.. you've both spent time in Europe over the last few years. Tell me, who could be behind these attacks?" Heller asked, trying to get a general idea if anything on who the attackers may be.

"I don't know, sir. Most of the time when I was undercover trying to bring down Karl Rask, I didn't really hear much in the way of any European terror cells" Jack admitted; it was the truth, during his undercover work prior to the events in London, he didn't really hear much in the way of news, with the obvious exception of the alleged attempt on Heller's life. Belcheck, on the other hand, was deep in thought. "Belcheck?" Jack asked after a few seconds and the Serb looked up, surprised to be pulled out of his thoughts. "I'm not... too sure. I mean, I heard a lot of things whilst I was in the mob" he explained and he could see what looked a tinge of disappointment on Heller's face. But then something sparked in his mind. "Unless... actually, I DID hear something. It was about a day before Jack saved my life; there were rumors abounding of European citizens being recruited for what was said to be a "continent-wide" mission, a mission that will, quote, "change the world!". I didn't think anything of it as it just sounded like some far-right plan to seize control of the whole of Europe!" he added, realizing that the "continent-wide" mission may well be linked to the events of the last few hours. "Any idea what kind of people were recruited?" Jack asked. "Just people from across Europe – but mainly people from Eastern Europe; Russia, Albania, Serbia, Romania, the Ukraine, so many countries. I never bought it up as I didn't think it was relevant" the Serb replied.

Jack looked at Heller, who had a face of worry – it could only mean that the terrorists had been planning well in advance for these attacks.

–

22:07:21PM

 **Headquarters**

Walking out of a lift that had stopped on the research level of the building was President Walkman, who surveyed the area before starting to walk towards what looked like a back room – to get there, she had to go through a series of tables and computers belonging to various researchers and she walked past them, attracting the attention of the scientists. Their faces were that of surprise, which clearly meant that Walkman had not been down on that level before. Walkman simply ignored them and walked to in front of the door of the backroom, knocking three times. "Come in!" a voice called and the President walked in, to see a tall and young doctor slouching over what appeared to be a series of papers whilst two older scientists worked on what looked like a large computer. The tall doctor looked up. "Jordan!" he said, smiling as he stood up straighter. "Dr Hampson.. I understand you wanted to see me?" Walkman said, ignoring the doctor calling her by her first name and getting straight down to business. "Indeed – it's taken a while but I think we have all the bugs sorted out now! The A.I is just about ready" the doctor explained. Walkman rose an eyebrow. "I see.. forgive my skepticism, doctor, but from our last conversation, you hinted that the A.I would take considerably longer than your first estimates" she said.

"I did hint at that – but then we figured out the glitches. And I think it's just-about ready for the first test" Hampson replied. "Ok.. let's see what we've got" Walkman nodded, before following the young doctor towards a large see-through screen – right on the other side of the screen was a large machine gun attached to a table and aimed directly at a series of targets. "O'Neill, Hancock, hook it up!" Hampson ordered the two older men. "Yes, Doctor" one of the two said as they connected a cable from the big computer towards the laptop. Hampson then picked up a large remote control panel and secured it to several straps on his body. As he flicked a switch on the control panel, one of the older men handed Walkman a pair of large ear-muffs. "As you are already aware, Madame President, the gun can be controlled remotely by us and like this.." Hampson started before pressing down on a large red button on the panel – within seconds, the gun started to move in the same directions that the doctor was moving the control panel gear-stick in, before moving in back to its central position.. where it was aimed at a large circular target. "And as so" he continued before pushing down on a large blue button.

The gun instantly started firing multiple rounds at break-neck speed into the target, only stopping when it had run out of rounds. The target was now close to falling apart because of the amount of holes in it. Walkman looked at the young doctor, quite surprised at the power of the gun. "And now onto the A.I system" Hampson continued, ignoring the look on his President's face. He pressed down on two buttons that were on both sides of the control panel, which lifted the whole panel upwards. Picking it up and then turning it upside down to reveal a new set of controls, he pushed the panel back downwards and flipped a switch. Inside the test area, the rail system that was underneath both the gun and the target started to roll to the left; coming in from the right of the area was not just a new gun mount but also a new target that stretched the entire length of the room. "Ok and now, all we have to do is..." Hampson explained, activating a microphone on the panel which lifted up. "Eliminate threat!" he spoke into it. Within an instance, the panel switched off.. and at first, nothing happened. Until the gun started to move on its own. " **Analyzing threat to weapon!** " a male, computer-like voice suddenly said as the gun moved from left to right. Before suddenly surging to the left. " **Threat identified! Must eliminate!** " the voice said and the gun opened fire on the target. Bullets went flying straight into the target and continued to do so even as the weapon moved towards the right-hand side of the room.

As with the previous weapon, it stopped only when it had run out of bullets. " **Threat eliminated!** " the voice declared before the gun stopped moving. Walkman, perhaps even more surprised by the power of both the gun and the success of the A.I, looked at Hampson, a smile coming into place. "I think we can call that a success, Madame President.. and to answer your next question, we can start to fit the Artificial Intelligence into Experiment #Sunderland09 as soon as possible" the young doctor explained as he removed his ear-muffs from over his ears and then started to remove the control panel from his body. "How long will that take?" Walkman asked. "Well, considerably longer than it did for us to figure out the glitches but because of having to reconfigure the system in place on #Sunderland09, it won't be fully installed until 04:00AM" the doctor replied. Walkman couldn't help but feel a tinge of disappointment at such a long wait, but considering the trouble he'd had to even get the A.I this far, she thought it unfair to complain. "Very well; let me know when it's done" she nodded before leaving. No sooner was she out of the door than her pager beeped; she quickly picked up her phone. "Yes, Evans?" she spoke into it. " _I've just been in contact with Statewide Cell operatives, Madame President – all 40 will be on site_ within the next 10 minutes!" the young man responded. " _Excellent –_ the first ten to arrive, send them directly to Hemslow!" Walkman ordered as she headed back towards the elevator. "Oh and Evans?" she added as she stopped in front of the closed lift doors.

" _Yes, Madame President?_ " her aide asked. "Send the go-ahead to our operatives – _it's time for the purge of Europe!_ " she ordered. "Of course, Madame President!" Evans agreed before hanging up and pulling his pager from his pocket. On it were the words "Order given. Remove trace". He pressed down on the "Send" button.

22:12:04PM

–

03:16:19PM

 **Greenland**

For the past few hours, Greenland firefighters had been fighting a massive blaze towards the south of Island – but finally, after what seemed like an eternal struggle, the fire was showing signs of dying out. A lone fire chief hugged several of his officers in relief as he thought they would never put it out.. but as he hugged one, he noticed something out of the ordinary. He pushed the officer out of the way and walked towards it – it looked like a burnt-out hut at first but as he got closer, he noticed a large gaping hole. Only it wasn't even a hole.. it looked like an elevator shaft. "Erinaq, Ikkik, come over here!" he called two officers over and as they walked closer, he pointed towards the shaft. "Does this look like an elevator shaft or a hole?" he asked them – he only wanted them to see as he really did not know if he was seeing things or not. The two officers peered down and looked up at their chief. "It is an elevator shaft!" one said in surprise. The chief peered down again. "Get as long as a ladder you can find – I'm gonna find out where it leads!" he decided but before either one of Erinaq or Ikkik could issue orders to the rest of the fire crew, a large spotlight was shone down on them.

Everyone looked up to see a large Russian helicopter flying above them before landing to the left of one of the fire-trucks. All fire crew members watched in surprise as the helicopter doors opened and about 15 men walked out. "Russian Foreign Intelligence Service!" one yelled as he held open his identification badge. Confused at the presence of Russians on what was essentially Danish territory, the fire chief walked towards the lead agent. "Are you the man in charge?" the lead agent asked, his face somewhat hidden by the dark sky and the real lack of floodlights. "Yes, though may I ask what business the Russians have here?" the chief asked, confused. One agent quickly pulled his gun from his holster and had it raised to face the fire chief before it was grabbed. "No" the lead agent said. "We are here to investigate, not to commit bloodshed" he added. Though with a look of reluctance, the agent placed his gun back in the holster. The fire chief continued to look unflinchingly at the lead agent. "We are here on order of the Russian government" the agent said. "Ok, but that doesn't explain what business the Russians have on Danish soil?" the chief asked again. The agent took the chief to one side. "Believe me, I don't know why I'm here either. If I did know, I would have said. The Russian government dispatched me and those men just a few hours ago" he insisted.

The fire chief's face softened a little. "Ok.. well, if you must know, I found what looks like an elevator shaft just before you arrived. I have a hunch there is something down there" he explained. "I see – well, I think we can help each other out. Whatever equipment you need, we should have" the agent offered. The chief was a little skeptical at the offer, but accepted. "Very well" he agreed. The agent nodded. "We're gonna help the fire department! Anything they need, they get!" he then yelled towards his group of agents. The chief walked over towards the elevator shaft, surprised at the turn of events.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Approximately thousands of miles down from where the Russians were, the Yuri Dolgorukiy was charging down the ocean. Inside, Benediktov put his head in his hands. "You're absolutely sure of this?" he said quietly. "Yes, General. It's beyond a shadow of a doubt – Bauer made it off the Truman without so much of a scratch. I wouldn't put it past him to have made it to DC by now" the Ukraine woman replied, a bit solemnly. The General sighed and got to his feet, walking to in front of a portrait hung on the wall – the portrait was of Stalin. Suddenly, the Russian cried in anger and smashed his fist into the portrait repeatedly, until it was badly damaged and almost about to come apart. "WHAT MUST WE DO?" he yelled in frustration. Krylenko stayed in stunned silence, unsure of what to say or do. "We focused a huge portion of this mission on ensuring Bauer's death and yet he's still alive! How many opportunities did Eastern Cell have to kill him and yet they allowed him to get to POLAND! And then there's Ballester – she was essentially one-on-one with Bauer and using an attack drone none-the-less and yet he still manages to avoid her! And now we've wasted one of our own missiles!" he continued – the Russian was beyond angry. There was a chance their whole mission was now at risk; perhaps the only silver lining was that they couldn't find him or the submarine.

"Get me in contact with Eastern Cell. I don't care who, just get me SOMEONE!" he demanded. Krylenko gave him a look of worry and confusion. "But... we were told never to contact the other cells. To avoid being expose..." she started but was stopped by the Russian glaring at her. "I. DON'T CARE WHAT OUR ORDERS ARE! I want answers! We wouldn't be in this situation if Eastern Cell did their job properly – NOW GET ME SOMEONE!" he roared in anger. Shaken by his outburst, Krylenko walked backwards out of the room and ran towards her control panel. Benediktov put his hand against the door-frame and smacked it repeatedly, still angry at the turn of events.

–

22:23:42PM

 **America**

Charging down the quiet road was the pick-up truck, driven by Henderson – one hand was on the steering wheel while the other was entering directions on the SatNav. Seemingly towards Washington DC. The moment he finished, he felt the phone vibrating – turning on the BlueTooth attached to his ear, he spoke up. "This is Henderson" he said. " _I'm finally on the move – as it stands, I'll be right behind you in getting to DC_ " a male voice replied; it was the van driver from Trenton. "I see.. _I trust it went tell?_ " Henderson asked in response. "Yes; I have Kim in the back of the van" the driver responded, looking in the rear-view mirror at Kim – she had lost consciousness following the car crash, so getting her into the van had been trouble-free. Her arms and legs had been bound with duct tape and her mouth covered with a single piece. " _I as in you?_ Where's everyone else?" Henderson suddenly asked; he could have sworn he sent half a dozen men to capture Bauer's daughter. " _I had to abandon them –_ it was either that or hanging around to be captured. But they won't break, I assure you. They will keep your intentions a _guarded secret and take them to the grave if necessary_ " the driver replied, adding his assurances in. "I'm sure they will, Cannavale. How _delayed do you think you may?_ " came the reply from Henderson.

"You're still on target to reach the city at around 2am?" the driver, Cannavale, asked. "Yes" Henderson said swiftly. " _Well, at this speed and provided I'm not stopped for any reason,_ I should only be arriving a few minutes behind you" he replied. "I see.. very well. I shall see you in a few hours. _And just a warning, we should keep contact to an absolute minimum_ – we can not risk either of us being potentially exposed" Henderson warned. " _Understood_ " Cannavale agreed before promptly hanging up. Henderson pulled the BlueTooth from his ear and looked out of his wind-screen, into the night sky. Sooner or later, the police would close in on him. He had to be weary; of course, it would take them a while to identify the woman he killed but of course, you don't know what will happen. He just had to keep going.

–

 **White House**

Shortly after Jack and Belcheck's discussion on Heller on who could be behind the attacks, both men had been disposable cell phones by Secret Service agents on the request of the President. At that moment, Jack's started ringing. "This is Bauer" he spoke into it. " _Is the President with_ you?" McKaye replied, standing over Chloe who was searching on a White House-owned laptop. " _Yeah, hang on_ " Jack replied, as he pressed the speaker-button option and motioned over Heller. "What have you got, McKaye?" he asked. "Well, at the minute, sir.. not that much. We've contacted the intelligence agencies for various European countries, all have denied involvement – Russia, Serbia, Italy, France, Bosnia, none of them know anything as to what's going on!" the MI-5 agent admitted. Jack gave a heavy sigh. "I know we think it's European but do you think it could be a cover? Have you asked outside of Europe?" he asked. "Way ahead of you, Jack – I've contacted North Korea and several Middle Eastern organizations. Yet to hear from the Middle East, but North Korea has firmly denied involvement" Chloe spoke up.

Heller looked at Jack. "Well that means this isn't a government-sanctioned attack.." he said. "...which only makes our attempts to find these people harder!" McKaye finished, before slamming his fist into the computer desk in annoyance. "Andrew, calm down – we'll find them" Heller assured. "Well, we're not doing a fairly good job of it, ARE WE? After all, one of your own carriers is fire-bombed and yet we don't even know who did it! At this rate, we're essentially inviting the terrorists to attack us!" McKaye yelled in response, making even the grit-faced Heller flinch. Chloe looked up at the MI-5 agent – the tempers were flaring up once again. "Don't be stupid, McKaye! We'll find out who did it" Jack replied, trying his best to defuse the anger before there was an argument. "OH REALLY? HOW DO YOU PROPOSE WE DO THAT THEN?" the MI-5 agent angrily replied. As Chloe rolled her eyes in frustration, she noticed something out of the ordinary – she had just sent off an email to the main intelligence service in the Ukraine as she and McKaye had done so far and she had just got a reply. Only the whole email was blank – in the subject box was what looked like a phone number and the words "contact here". She quickly wrote the number on her hand and picked up a disposable phone, before sneaking out – McKaye had hung up and was smacking his hands against the wall in an attempt to calm down.

Going into the hallway, Chloe checked to ensure the coast was clear before entering the number into the phone. Dialling the number, she heard it ring just two times before she heard a voice. " _Are you alone?_ " the gruff voice asked. "Who is this?" Chloe asked again, her voice tainted with suspicion. " _I ask again.. ARE YOU alone?_ " the voice replied. "Yea... yeah, I'm alone. What's going on, who is this?" the analyst confirmed. " _I don't have much time to explain.._ but you're going about your investigation the wrong way. You're looking in the wrong areas!" the man explained, speaking on his end in a Ukraine accent -what Chloe didn't know, however, was that this man was hiding in a cupboard within an office space; the office itself was a mess with desks overturned, computers lying on the ground and dead bodies everywhere. Gunfire could be heard, echoing throughout the surrounding area as two gun-men stormed their way back into the office area. " _How can I be looking in the wrong areas?_ You need to explain!" Chloe protested. " _I can't.._ they're coming for me!" the man replied, panic setting in. The gunfire he could hear echoing a few seconds earlier were now in complete earshot as a bullet wedged in the door protecting him. Chloe heard it clearly. "What was that?" she demanded. " _They've almost found me.._ there are people in DC, I think even people in the government they are involved with the A.F.E! Find them and _you'll find those behind the attacks!_ " the man replied quickly, knowing full well he was about to die. Chloe could not believe what she was hearing – people from within AMERICA were potentially in league with what the man had called the "A.F.E"; they must be the people behind the attacks.

And the fact this person had said something about potentially someone in the Government being involved – she wouldn't be able to trust anyone. Only Jack and Belcheck. "Why are you telling me this?" she asked. There was no reply. "Hello? _HELLO?_ " she tried again. What she didn't know was that the man had hidden the phone in a large box and was now pulling out a suicide capsule. Pulling it open, he forced it into his mouth. Within seconds, he started convulsing before falling dead... just as the door was pulled open and the gun-men looked downwards to see his dead body. "Lucky bastard..." one remarked, in an American accent. "Hey, at least we've got everyone we needed to! President Walkman will be delighted by this" the second pointed out, also in an American accent. Seconds passed. "You heard from anyone else?" the first gun-man asked. "I have. Gun Cell #15 have managed to eliminate five platoons worth of A.F.E militants – they found them in a Russian army compound in the middle of the country and well..." the second one replied, before sticking two of his left-hand fingers into a gun shape and pretending to fire six times.

22:30:02PM

–

22:34:12PM

Back at the White House, upon realizing the man she had been speaking to was dead, Chloe had hung up her phone and was racing towards the Oval Office. She would have been there sooner, but with the warning that someone within the White House itself might well be involved with the terrorists, she had to be extra careful. Perhaps the only silver lining was that Heller could not be in on the terrorists – she could afford to tell him alongside Jack and Belcheck. She forced her way into the Oval Office. "JACK!" she cried and within seconds, everyone in the room looked up – there was Jack, Heller, Belcheck and two Secret Service agents. "What's up?" Jack asked. Chloe's mouth started moving upwards and downward, unable to say the words. "I need... I need to speak with you three. NOW" she finally said, trying to indicate to the agents they needed to leave the room. Jack realized what she meant. "You two need to leave the room" he said, turning towards the agents. "No can do, sir. We've been ordered not to leave the President's side. NSA's orders" one said. "Please? Just five minutes.." Heller added.

The first agent looked back towards Chloe, who had a look of desperation on her face. "Very well. You have five minutes.." the second agent agreed as he moved towards the doors, followed by the first. The moment they left and the doors were closed, Jack walked towards Chloe. "Everything ok?" he asked. Chloe walked towards the center of the room. "I'm not sure.. I don't know what to think" she said. "Start at the beginning" Belcheck urged. "Well.. whilst you were arguing with McKaye, I got an email from what looked like the main Ukraine intelligence service. Only it didn't have anything in it, just a number. I rang it up – and it was someone who claimed to have information about the attacks!" the former analyst finally said. With this, the attention of all three men was truly caught. "What information?" Heller asked. "It was very vague.. but it must have been important as he said he didn't have much time to tell..." Chloe started to explain before stopping. Jack had a look of worry on his face. "He said we were looking in the wrong place.. and that there were people within the country.. within DC, in fact, that are involved with the terrorists!" she continued. Heller's face dropped and Jack looked up in surprise. "DC as in...?" Belcheck inquired. "Yeah.. Washington DC!" Chloe confirmed.

Jack looked away, deep in thought. "I'd say we should go under the assumption that these people are in alliance with the terrorists!" the former analyst confirmed. "That doesn't make sense, though. These terrorists are plotting attacks AGAINST America – why would Americans openly support them?" the Serb asked, slightly confused. "Because they think it's supporting their agenda – there are Americans out there who think they're helping their country by openly attacking it!" Jack said without turning around, clearly remembering the events in DC about six years ago; when the para-military organization Starkwood had allied themselves with Sangala terrorists in hopes of attacking America to further their cause. "Ok, so we know who might be allied with the terrorists but we don't know IF they did in-fact murder Hermann. Chloe, this person – did he give you any more information?" Heller asked. Chloe bit her lip. "He did... he said that people within the government might well be involved!" she said, with reluctance in her voice. Jack turned around, not expecting to hear that at all. "You're certain?" Belcheck pushed. "That's what I was told... people from the government. Only thing is, he didn't say who" Chloe explained.

Belcheck looked towards Heller, who looked towards Jack. "It could be anyone.." the President said. He then walked closer towards Chloe. "Not one mention of this outside of this office. We can not risk anyone finding out about what we know" he said quietly and sternly. All three of Jack, Chloe and Belcheck nodded grimly. "Don't even say this to McKaye. Or Baylis. Or the Pentagon. For all we know, they may be involved" he added. All three people nodded. Heller then turned towards Chloe. "Get yourself in a private location by 11pm and start looking for any kind of information. I'll work up a cover story for you" he ordered. "Right" the former analyst nodded in agreement. "I'll get McKaye to carry on contacting European countries, just to be on the safe side" the President continued. He then turned to Jack and Belcheck. "I'm going to need you two on stand-by. In case Chloe comes up with something or our intelligence suggests an imminent attack" he ordered. "Of course" the Serb agreed and Jack gave a curt nod in silent agreement. "Ok, we'll set everything in stone at 11pm. Don't want to arose suspicion" Heller added. The four stood in silence, trying to take in everything that had come to light.

–

03:40:21PM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Benediktov emerged from his office, fury on his face as he stormed down the submarine corridor towards where Krylenko was. "What's taking so long? GET ME SOMEWHERE FROM EASTERN CELL!" the General roared in anger. "I can't!" Krylenko replied, sounding desperate. Benediktov leaned in, the anger emulating from his face. "You better or else..." he said in a low voice suggesting his patience was running out. "I'm not saying I won't do it, I'm saying I can't! No-one's replying!" the Ukrainian said. "She's right, General. I've been helping her with it and not one person we've contacted has come back to us!" Dragusha added, appearing from around the corner and with a radio head-set over his ears. Benediktov's anger slowly fell away and was replaced by confusion. "How many operatives have you tried?" he asked. "About 24... I hacked into the list of possible operatives within the Ukraine, we were about to try no.25 on the list!" the Albanian replied. Taken aback by what he had been told, he walked to behind Krylenko. "Let me try" he said, holding his hand out. Realizing what he meant, the Ukrainian took off her head-set and handed in to the old Russian, who also looked at the list of possible operatives. Moving towards the microphone on the radio panel, he pressed down on a red button and spoke up.

"This is Ignash-Rezut-Alpha calling Petrovsky-Omega #17. Come in please" he spoke up.

–

 **Ukraine**

" _This is Ignash-Rezut-Alpha calling Petrovsky-Omega #17. Come in please!_ " Benediktov tried for a second time. He could be clearly heard on the radio of a Ukraine army jeep.. had it not been for the fact that it was on its side and surrounded by half a dozen jeeps and for the fact that the jeep's six occupants were all dead. As were all the occupants of the other jeeps. A short distance from the pile-up, a seventh and larger Jeep was driving away. Inside was a driver, a gun-man in the passenger seat and four more gun-men in the back. The gun-man in the passenger seat pulled a small pager from his shirt pocket and started to type on it - "Eastern Cell operatives in Area 61 eliminated". After looking it over, he sent it.

–

"Hello! Come in please!" Benediktov was almost on the verge of yelling, before he gave up. "I don't get it – WHY is no-one responding?" he asked out-loud to no-one in particular. "Perhaps they're following the order not to contact other cells?" Dragusha asked. "No, if that was the case, we wouldn't even be able to send the radio messages! The fact they're going through means they are getting them.." Krylenko replied. "So WHY are they not responding?" the Russian General protested. "I don't know – perhaps something's happened to the people we've tried to contact. Do you want us to keep trying, General?" the Ukranian offered. Benediktov sighed as he thought about it. "No.. no.. it's alright. Just leave it. To be honest, we'll have to leave it to hope that Bauer doesn't find us. Not that he can, anyway" he decided. Besides, even if Bauer had made it to Washington DC, what could he do? The submarine was untraceable; no-one would know it was there even when it was launching missiles! But still, it seemed a bit odd that no-one was replying to his radio requests – had they not wanted to be contacted, they would have blocked off communication, but here, it was getting through. The Russian was confused and in some ways, starting to suspect foul play.

–

22:43:53PM

 **White House**

Following his angry outburst against both Jack and the President, McKaye had calmed back down and was typing away on the laptop, carrying on what Chloe had been doing – he had been a little surprised when he couldn't find the former analyst, but a quick phone-call to Heller confirmed that he'd called her away for a few minutes. Accepting the reason, the MI-5 agent was looking over email responses from further countries across Europe when he noticed something strange – it was a second email. From Russia. They'd already sent an email insisting they had nothing to do with the attacks so why send a second? He clicked on it and was met with something rather unexpected – it was some kind of file. And as if on cue, his phone started to ring; McKaye quickly answered. "Andrew McKaye" he spoke into it. " _That was quite a quick reply, Mr McKaye. You sitting on your phone or something?_ " a strange Russian voice asked rather jokingly. "Who is this?" the MI-5 agent asked, not expecting to be speaking with what sounded like a Russian.

" _My apologies, Mr McKaye. I'm with the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, you should be checking over the email just sent to us_ " the voice replied. "I am. What is it?" McKaye asked, suspicion lacing his tongue. " _I think you should watch it for yourself and then show your President before getting back to me. That's all I can say for now_ " the Russian replied before promptly hanging up. Confused by the turn of events, McKaye clicked on the folder and found himself looking at what appeared to be a video, which started playing almost instantly.

22:45:47PM

–

22:49:21PM

 **White House**

In the Oval Office, Jack was pacing up and down when his disposable phone started ringing rapidly. "This is Bauer" he spoke into it after answering on the second ring. " _Jack, are you with the President?_ " McKaye asked, sounding surprisingly desperate. "Yeah, hang on a minute, Andrew" the former CTU agent replied before pressing down on the speaker-phone option and motioning Heller over. "What's up, Andrew?" the President asked. " _Sir, I need to see you in the conference room right now!_ Along with Jack, Chloe and Belcheck!" McKaye explained as he ran through the corridors of the White House, the open laptop in one hand. " _Any particular reason?_ " Jack waded in. "Yeah, a pretty big reason – _just got something from the Russians!_ " he said, pretty desperate. Heller's jaw dropped in surprise. "We'll be there in a few minutes!" Jack agreed, speaking what the President would have most likely said. As he hung up, the former CTU agent ran towards the double-doors with Belcheck in hot pursuit.

"Sir?" Heller was bought out of his shock by one of the Secret Service agents and quickly raced after Jack and Belcheck, with Chloe and the two agents not too far behind.

–

 **Headquarters**

Pushing down on the handle of a screen door and walking into a small classroom-like room was Hemslow. As he'd expected, 10 men were waiting, looking straight ahead at him. To the right of the room was Evans, who he knew as the personal aide to President Walkman. Walking towards the metal table at the front of the room, he then placed his metal briefcase on the top and opened it up – inside were documents.

"I trust you've been given the basics of your mission?" he asked. "Yes, sir" the 10 men replied almost in unison. "Excellent. Well, here is the mission in more detail. I trust you know what it is exactly that you'll be handling?" he continued, as he gave each man a sheet of paper. "Yes, sir" the 10 men repeated whilst Evans started to walk out of the room. "As it stands, your cover story is in its final stages. As soon as the cover story is complete, you will make your way to the target. But be warned, you have one shot at this. If we are to succeed in bringing down the Presidency, this must succeed.." he continued, whilst Evans left the room and closed the door. He reached for his radio. "Hemslow is briefing Attack Team One. Is the VX gas ready?" he spoke into it. " _Yes, sir. We are currently loading it into the truck as we speak_ " a male voice replied. "And the explosives?" Walkman's aide continued. " _Also ready, sir. We are ready to begin_ " the voice confirmed. Evans nodded to himself before heading towards the nearby elevator.

Further upstairs in the building, Walkman was watching over the production warehouse as more weapons were placed into boxes, which were then placed onto conveyor belts leading to another part of the compound. But that wasn't the main focus for Walkman, who was instead looking over at Experiment #Sunderland09 – she could just-about make out Hampson, who was working on installing his perfected Artificial Intelligence into the weapons aircraft. She was hopeful the young doctor would be finished by his deadline of 04:00AM, as she was desperate to start the tests as soon as possible. She was suddenly bought out of her train of thoughts by her phone ringing and she quickly answered it. "This is Walkman" she said. " _Sorry to interrupt you, Madame President, your daughter's just arrived_ " a female voice replied. Walkman smiled. "Ok, send her up" she said before hanging up. She quickly pressed down on the panel on her desk and flicked the switch which controlled the view-screen – it slowly went downwards and back into its original slot. Walkman clearly did not want her daughter to see what was happening.

–

 **America**

Henderson continued driving down the road, following the directions given on the SatNav. Things were going quite smoothly until his phone started ringing; instinctively, he picked up the BlueTooth and put it back on his ear... only he heard nothing. Confused, he looked all around him – and realized that the ringing phone belonged not to him, but to the woman who he'd killed so he could steal the truck. Letting it ring, he smiled as the ringing ended.

" _Hi, honey. Listen, is everything ok? It's just I've heard from Simon and he's still waiting for you. If you get this, please just respond_ " the voicemail suddenly came to life. Henderson's blood ran cold. "Damn..." he muttered. If the person on the other end got any more suspicious, he'd contact the police. And they'd locate the truck. He had to abandon the truck, it was as simple as that. He pressed down on the accelerator, keeping an eye out for any other vehicle coming towards him.

–

22:54:34PM

 **White House**

Jack, Chloe, Belcheck and Heller all walked into the White House's main conference room, all of them curious at what McKaye had found. "Ok, Andrew, what is it?" Heller asked as he closed the door behind him. "I just got what looks like an online folder sent to me from Russian intelligence – when I asked Moscow if they knew anything of what's happened, they said they'd look into it. And they found this on a burnt-out computer system in Greenland!" the MI-5 agent explained. Jack looked at him in surprise. "Greenland? Why was it in Greenland?" he asked. "The Russian agent I spoke to wouldn't say – he said the President should look at it first and then he'd be happy to explain" McKaye replied. Though still somewhat suspicious by this, Jack thought nothing of it and sat down in the chair next to the President. Opening up the file, McKaye clicked on the only video icon and the video screen came to life; at first, the screen stayed black but before long, the footage started up and the image of Andre Benediktov filled the screen. To Heller, Jack and Chloe, this was a man they had never seen before.. but to Belcheck, this bought back memories. "No.. it can't be him.." he said and everyone looked at him in surprise. "You know him, Belcheck?" Chloe asked.

"Unfortunately, I do.. that's Andre Benediktov. He was a high-ranking Russian General. But then his past caught up with him – he snapped. Became a part of the Eastern European crime world, had many encounters with him. He's one of the darkest individuals I've ever met.. to this day, Victor Drazen looks like a saint compared to him!" the Serb slowly explained. Jack's insides turned – if he made Victor Drazen "look like a saint", then this Benediktov must be dangerous! "I'm sorry, how do you know all these people?" McKaye asked, confused. "I was with the Serbian mob. I had dealings with people in the crime world of Eastern Europe. Trust me, I know many people!" Belcheck replied simply. At first, the MI-5 agent looked like he was eying him before moving back to the screen and pressing down on the button to restart the video. At first, nothing happened but then..

" _To those who may not know, I am Russian General Andre Benediktov. And if you have found this when I think you will find it, then you are too late!_ " even though they were watching a recording of the Russian speaking, a chill was sent down the spine of Belcheck. " _President James Heller! Your day of reckoning is here! The time of America dominating, dictating and holding back the world is at an end – Europe is fighting back! Already, we have killed your Vice-President, hijacked one of your planes and are in the process of hunting down and executing one of your most dangerous assets – JACK BAUER!_ " the recording version of the Russian continued and Jack looked at Heller in shock. Of course, they knew before-hand that the people behind the attacks had tried to kill Jack when he was stuck in the Ukraine, but they now had concrete evidence of this. " _But of course, to you, it will all be in the past. When you find this video, I will be in control of a weapon. A weapon that is capable of leveling your precious Washington DC! And don't even bother wasting your time trying to find this weapon – you won't find it! No matter what you do or how you do it, you simply will not be able to find us! And even if you do..._ " the recording continued, before Benediktov stopped and leaned in closer to the screen he used to record himself with. " _You won't be able to stop what is coming. You should prepare yourself, President, for the worst attack on your country in centuries. The Allied Forces of Europe... will reign supreme!_ "

With these words said, the recording of Benediktov moved back away from the screen before it faded to black. Almost instantly, Heller looked at Jack, a "stunned into silence" expression on his face.. "Some of the Russians don't know you're here, Jack – I'd move out of the way of the screen and stay hidden" he said quietly. Jack wasn't really that keen on having to essentially sit out on the talk, but he had a point. "Yes, sir" he said as he got up from the chair and moved to just in front of the doors to the room – from that angle, the Russians wouldn't see him. Heller turned back towards McKaye. "Get me Russian intelligence..." he ordered quietly. Within an instance, the MI-5 agent agreed and deactivated the screen they were looking at – in its place came what looked like a live feed and the five people in the room found themselves looking at a senior Russian intelligence agent. The same agent who had spoken with the fire chief earlier – he looked at Heller and nodded. " _Mr President_ " he greeted in a thick Russian accent. " _I'm Agent Kuznetsov of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service – I take it you have seen the video sent to you?_ " he continued. "I have. And I need to ask you this, Agent – is Russia in any way complicit in the attacks on my country?" Heller asked. Had this been any other situation, Kuznetsov would have been a little offended by the President's words but considering what the Russians had just found and how grave the unfolding situation was, it was a valid question.

" _I can assure you, Mr President, that Russia had no knowledge of the planned attacks in any shape or form – the government had no idea that General Benediktov was even alive until a few minutes ago!_ " the agent replied. Heller nodded at that. "One thing doesn't make sense – you said the video was found in Greenland, is that correct?" Chloe asked. " _That is true – approximately 10 hours ago, we received reports of a large fire towards the south end of Greenland. To my surprise, the Russian government immediately dispatched myself and several agents from the Service to Greenland. When we arrived, the fire had been put out. And that was when we found the bunker, where I'm standing now_ " the Russian replied. Heller's eyes rose and was about to speak his fury at learning that the Russians had had a secret bunker, but Kuznetsov interjected. " _Believe me, sir, I was as much as in the dark on it as you are now.._ " he insisted, only to be interrupted from behind. " _SIR!_ " a voice called in Russian and the agent turned to see a fellow agent, running up. " _Bear with me, Mr President!_ " Kuznetsov said before turning away. The two then began engaging in conversation, speaking at such a fast rate that both Jack and Belcheck, for all their basic knowledge of the Russian accent, could not understand – however, Belcheck was able to understand a few phrases: "surveillance", "submarine", "all dead" and "gone".

Whatever was said, it must have had an impact on Kuznetsov as he turned to reface the video feed, his face looking like the blood had drained from his face. " _You will have to excuse me for just a few minutes, Mr President. Some... new information concerning what Benediktov said has come to light_ " he finally said, fear in his voice before the feed abruptly went to static. Heller shared a look of worry with Chloe, Belcheck, McKaye and then Jack. Every single one of them knew full well that Russians were not scared easily – so for Kuznetsov to both look and sound scared... it meant that whatever that agent had found in the surveillance, Benediktov had managed to get his hands on. And that was not good.

–

11:00:00PM

* * *

So... what do you think? I will get Chapter 13 up as soon as I can


	13. 13: 11pm - 12am (WET)

13: 11pm – 12am (W.E.T):

* * *

We are now past the halfway point of the story and it's only going to get better - keep the reviews coming!

 **DISCLAIMER: See Chapter 1**

* * *

 **The following takes place between 11pm and 12am, Washington Eastern Time:**

–

23:00:01PM

 **America**

Following the unexpected voice-mail received on the dead woman's phone, Henderson had been spending the last few minutes looking carefully for any oncoming cars or vehicles – only there were none at all. Ever since his prison break, he'd seen just the one car and that was the stolen truck he was currently driving. At this rate, he would have to keep on driving the truck, which would potentially increase the risk of the police finding him – but then he saw a sign on the right-hand side of the road. Just half a mile ahead of him was a Denny's. A thought sprung to mind; he could hide out there for a while, provided his face hadn't been plastered across the news and refresh himself with something to eat or drink and then maybe, just maybe, he could find another vehicle and hijack that. He knew he was running the risk of not making it to DC on time, but he could possibly make up the time. He quickly picked up speed and then he finally saw it – the Denny's. Carefully keeping an eye out for any potential police cruiser, he rolled the truck into the car park and parked in the nearest available spot. Thankfully for him, there were no police cruisers. He checked throughout the passenger area of the truck to see if the woman had left any money – to his relief, he found $20 hidden within the passenger seat. Smiling, Henderson got out of the truck and walked towards the doors, opening the door and heading inside.

For a very late night, the Denny's was rather quiet – at least six of the many booths were taken whilst about four men were sat on different stools and drinking coffee. A lone waitress was behind the bar, talking with one of the men. Deciding he didn't want to attract attention, Henderson moved towards the closest available booth and sat down. A nearby waitress noticed and walked over with a smile. "Hello, lovely; what brings you here?" she asked. Henderson couldn't help but smile himself. "Just taking a food break – I'm headed to DC and I've not eaten in hours" he lied. "Smart choice – so what can I get you?" the waitress half-joked and then asked. "Oh, I'll just have a glass of orange juice and a plate of anything you're doing at the minute, please... Eliza" Henderson replied, before peering closer to the waitress so he could read her name-tag. "Of course, coming right up" Eliza agreed before heading back to towards the bar. Henderson quickly peered around carefully lifting his gun into the bottom of his shirt. Just in case. He doubted he would have to make a quick exit, but he had to be careful.

And of course, he had to find another vehicle. Which probably also meant having to get rid of one of the people in the restaurant. But for now, he wasn't going to think much about that. He had other things on his mind; namely, wondering whether or not the A.F.E had eliminated Bauer. He knew from speaking with Benediktov that they would not stop until Bauer was killed, but he was hopeful that the former CTU agent would live up to his reputation and make it to America – that way, when he eventually got there himself, he could deal the blows he wanted to and then get his vengeance against Bauer in person. Half of his vengeance plans were already in place as he had Bauer's daughter, or at least, one of his operatives had her. Now he was hopeful of finding and capturing Bauer and then avenging his father by killing him. An eye for an eye.

He could now only hope that the A.F.E had not screwed everything up.

–

 **White House**

It had been just minutes since Kuznetsov had abruptly ended the transmission from Greenland, but the atmosphere in the main conference room where everyone was waiting was tense. "What could be taking so long?" Belcheck said out of the blue. "Relax, Belcheck. It's only been a few minutes, I'm sure he'll get back to us" McKaye insisted. "And how would you know exactly? You make it sound like you've been in private conversation with him, behind our backs!" the Serb countered. The MI-5 agent gave him an incredulous look. "Oh come on, that's ridiculous! I'm just as in the dark as you are" he replied. "But are you really? I mean, I don't even know why you're still here – you're a British national and you have no need to be involved in a matter involving America!" Belcheck replied, forcing himself upwards and slamming his palms into the table. "OK! If you must know, I'm here at the request of the President – I helped him out in trying to deal with Flight 681 and he asked me to stay on in this crisis! But we're going down that path, I could quite easily say the same about you – you're Serbian, why are you here?" McKaye retorted, his anger once again getting the better of him. Jack watched helplessly from the shadows; he wanted to try and stop the two men but he also knew the Russian they had been talking to would be back any second and on Heller's orders, he couldn't let the agent see him.

"Gentlemen, please" Heller waded in, trying to stop another argument, to no avail. The tempers that had been flaring up following the attack on the Truman were coming back with a vengeance. "I'm here... because people from my country are involved. Two people I once knew are involved. I may not be the biggest fan of this country, but I will not sit by and watch as this country is destroyed. That good enough for you?" the Serb snarled, as he and McKaye glared daggers at each other. The tension only started to subside when there was a beeping from the large screen – McKaye picked up the remote for the screen and pressed down on it. In an instance, Kuznetsov appeared on screen – looking a lot paler and looking like the blood had drained from his face. " _Mr President... I apologize for having to cut you off like that. One of my men found security surveillance from one of the lower levels_ " he said slowly. "And? What have you found?" Heller asked. " _We've found out just what this weapon Benediktov claims to have is..._ " the Russian continued, before inwardly gulping. " _It's a submarine. A Borei-class submarine_ ". The reactions were exactly as Kuznetsov were expecting: fear and shock. Chloe turned away very slightly whilst McKaye put his head in his left hand. Heller, however, appeared emotionless.

"I'm sorry, son. My memory is a bit foggy at the minute.. could you explain what that kind of submarine is?" he asked. Everyone around him looked in him with either shock or surprise on their face – but then they realized. The dementia was striking back. Of course, Kuznetsov had no idea of this so he just decided that Heller had probably never heard of it. " _In essence, a Borei-class submarine is one of the Russian military's most advanced weapons. Unlimited range, capable of going 1,400ft below sea level and a full armament of missiles_!" the Russian explained. "What can you tell us about the stolen submarine?" Belcheck asked. " _It's the Yuri Dolgorukiy. One of the first Boreo-class submarines made. But I can do more than tell you – I can show you! Give me a minute_ " the agent said before the screen quickly went to black; when it came back, it was showing video footage of the submarine bay. At first, the footage was that of the various scientists either surrounding consoles and panels or walking around. Then two were shot in the head. The footage then cut to the Marina Cell members charging around the bay, shooting at every single scientist they could find.

With one last cut, the footage switched to the submarine in the water, partially submerged. It then charged forward and moved fully into the water. Suddenly, the wall furthest away from the security camera exploded and rocks started to fall into the water – at that point, the video ended. " _That's all we really found_ " Kuznetsov explained as he came back into view. "You said the vessel had a full armament of missiles – what kind exactly?" Belcheck asked, though the way he said it, it could have been argued he really did not want to know. " _That's the worst bit – we've checked what kind of missiles the submarine was carrying when it was docked. At present moment, it is probably carrying a full payload of 16 Bulava ballistic missiles and 6 SS-N-15 cruise missiles_ " the Russian replied. McKaye, whose head was still resting on his left hand, suddenly looked upwards. He turned towards Kuznetsov on the screen with shock on his face. "Did you say ballistic missiles?" he asked. " _Yes.._ " the Rusian agent confirmed. At that, the MI-5 agent turned towards Heller. "Ballistic missiles... they can't be tracked. I think that's what shot down the plane with the Chief of Staff" he explained. "And the Truman" Chloe added, starting to piece everything together – this Benediktov had stolen the submarine, used it to attack two military vessels and was now on his way to use it against America. The hijacking of Flight 681, the submarine attack and the Russian/Ukraine attempt to kill Jack; it was all contacted! They were all part of the A.F.E's plans. But Heller's face remained blank and realizing that it was likely his dementia, McKaye turned back towards the screen. "Thank you, agent, for everything. I'm afraid we'll have to stop here; we need to figure out how to deal with this" he explained.

" _I understand. I should also note, however; I have been asked to tell you that the Russian government condemns General Benediktov's actions. If there's any assistance your country needs, Russia will be more than happy to assist_ " Kuznetsov replied and offered. McKaye nodded. "Thank you. We'll be in touch" he said before turning off the feed and the screen. Jack reappeared from the shadows, a look of horror on his face, as everyone turned towards Heller. "It happened.. again" he said quietly, referring to his dementia. "There's no way it could have happened, sir. Besides, the way he responded, I think it's fair to say he didn't realize" Chloe assured, trying to be as passive as she could. Silence fell until Heller spoke up again. "Alright.. now we know exactly WHO is behind the attacks – the question is, what now? This submarine, can it be traced?" he asked to no-one in particular. "Impossible" Jack replied almost instantly and everyone looked up at him, almost surprised he knew. "Shortly before Belcheck and I came to London, I lived in the very east of the Ukraine – I worked with someone who had connections to the Russian mafia. Anything I wanted to know about the Russians, he got for me. And it was through him that I found out about the Borei-class submarine – the specification, the missile capability, everything".

"The _Yuri Dolgorukiy_ , it has a caterpillar drive but one that's been modified to make it completely untraceable by sonar or radar.." he continued. Silence descended once again, as everyone took in the news. "Like a silent predator" Belcheck suggested. Jack nodded. "The Truman would never have detected it, regardless of if it was 1000 miles away or right underneath it" he replied. "So let me get this straight, Jack.. we've got a submarine being controlled by a vengeful Russian somewhere in the North Atlantic Ocean and we have no way of finding it?" Heller demanded. Jack inwardly gulped. "That's the size of it, sir, yes" he said quietly. "And what's more, this submarine is carrying missiles that we can't detect either?" the President continued. Jack nodded, albeit reluctantly. "That's the scale of it" he said. Heller slowly pulled his glasses away from his face and put his head on the tip of his fingers, shaking his head in frustration. "What options are available?" he asked. "Not much – at best, the most favourable option is to find out who ordered the hit on Hermann. Perhaps if we find them, we might find the submarine" Chloe said, not sounding as confident as she would like to be. Heller sighed and almost scoffed at the situation. "In other words, not that much. I mean, that submarine could strike at any point – we've already lost one of our own carriers AND Mike Novick. Frankly, there's not that much we can do!" he replied, though he looked up to see everyone staring at him in confusion.

"Mike Novick? Sir, the last time I checked, Mike Novick was semi-active. I've not read anything to suggest he's been killed" McKaye replied. Giving his own look of confusion, Heller stopped. The dementia – previously, it had only appeared at certain moments. Now it was appearing more frequently. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he would be incapable of running as President. "I'm sorry.. this dementia. At this rate, I don't know what's real and what's not" he finally said. "Listen, sir.. we're all here with you. We know just what is happening. Should something happen.." McKaye insisted and Jack nodded, siding with the British agent. Silence fell once more. "Thank you, son. And thank you, all of you. But in the light of if something does happen to me, we need to be prepared. Andrew, I need you to speak to Baylis. We need to get as much of the Cabinet here as soon as possible" the President finally said. "Of course" the MI-5 agent nodded before making his way out of the room. The moment he left, Heller turned towards Chloe. "Chloe, I'm sure the cover story I ordered for you should be ready. Get working and whatever you find, tell me!" he ordered her. The former analyst simply nodded before heading out. "You two should head towards a stand-by point – if intelligence gets something, we need to be ready" he told Jack and Belcheck, the latter of who nodded. At that, both moved to leave. "Hold on a second, Jack – I just want a brief word" Heller suddenly said.

–

23:08:23PM

Jack turned his head towards Belcheck. "I'll meet you at the stand-by point" he said. The Serb, who was halfway out the double doors, nodded before leaving. "Sir?" the former CTU agent enquired, curious as to why the President had asked him to remain behind. "I've been meaning to say this since I found out you were missing, Jack.. and if I don't say it now, I'll probably forget what it is" Heller started. "Sir, honestly, I know what it's about. You blame me for what happened to Audrey and frankly, I don't blame you for thinking you.." Jack interjected, convinced Heller was going to tear into him much like he did all those years ago, following the discovery that Audrey had not been killed as first thought, but had been mentally destroyed by Cheng Zhi. "Jack... it's not that. If anything, I wanted to apologize" the President replied. Jack was almost floored. "Sir?" he asked, surprised.

"Firstly, I was wrong to blame you for what the Chinese did to Audrey – and I was wrong to call you "cursed". Even after I said it, I regretted it. I know I said I was wrong to put all of it on you at the time but really, that isn't the same. So I'm sorry on that front. And also, just to let you know, I don't blame you for Audrey's death either. Fact is, had you not resurfaced, the situation in London would have been a whole lot worse. I'd be dead, Audrey would be dead, Mark would have been dead and London could have potentially been in ruins. And as it is, while most would.. I do not hold you responsible for Audrey's death. The blame for that lies solely with Cheng Zhi" Heller finally explained, releasing the feelings he had been bottling up for nearly 12 hours. Jack was almost taken aback, not expecting the President to effectively absolve him of blame for what happened to Audrey. "I just wanted to say that now – before my memory deteriorates any further and I forget" the President added. Silence fell as Jack tried to come up with an answer. "Thank you, sir.." he said finally and quietly, unsure of what else he could really say.

Smiling lightly, Heller put his hand on Jack's shoulder. Jack looked up at him, unsure if he should say what was going to. Instead, he decided to say something else. "I give you my word, sir – we will find these terrorists and we will stop them. It's what Audrey would have wanted..". The President nodded and Jack gave a half-smile before heading out of the room, in search of Belcheck.

–

 **Headquarters**

The door to the driver side of a truck closed and the driver started up the vehicle, whilst the passenger spoke into a radio. "But I don't understand – you said that our cover story would be done by now" the man said, confused. " _So did I._ But we've hit an unexpected snag, so to maintain cover, you and the other men are leaving now, but until the story is finalized, you'll be waiting at the co-ordinates we're sending to you" Evans explained, as he watched the truck's cargo door close up. " _Understood – thank you, sir_ " the man replied, as a large metal door to the left of the warehouse was lifted up to reveal a tunnel. "Good luck" Evans said as the truck started to drive away from him and towards the tunnel. The truck vanished from view as it drove further and further into the long dark tunnel.

23:13:15PM

–

23:17:54PM

 **Denny's**

Henderson sat in his booth, alternating between looking outside of the window and eating the plate of the Denny's "All-American Slam" - basically comprising of scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, bacon, sausages and toasted white bread, given to him by Eliza. He picked up his glass of orange juice and downed the remains when he noticed something in the window – it was a police cruiser pulling into the parking lot. A lone male officer got out and headed towards the door. Not wanting to gather suspicion, Henderson simply continued eating, though he heard the door open. From the corner of his eye, he saw Eliza look up and smile. "Hey, Don! Haven't seen you in a while" she said. "Well, you can blame my new Captain for that – he somehow convinced the Police Commissioner in New York to start up some exchange programme and send officers from one state to another. Guess who got sent to Colorado?" the officer, known only as Don, said. "Ouch! That sucks. Surely it wasn't that bad?" Eliza replied.

"It was. Never been so frustrated in my life – the officers were boring, the crimes non-existent and the milkshakes at the Denny's... less said, the better!" he replied, sounding bored as he spoke. "Ah well, can't help that. Fancy the usual?" the waitress offered. "Yeah, go on; have to keep my energy going! I'm heading back to New York as we speak, but driving to a friend's house in DC – he offered me a rest-stop" Don explained. Convinced the officer was not looking for him, Henderson would have stopped listening to what the officer was saying but his mentioning of "driving" and "DC" had caught his interest. And a thought immediately sprang to mind – a risky thought but one that stuck with him, so it must have been good. If he could somehow knock out the officer without anyone realizing, then he could take his uniform and drive his police cruiser towards DC. Besides, no-one would suspect a thing – not to mention that the officer had a story in that he was driving to DC that would surely be supported by others.

But he could see that the officer was going to be in the Denny's for some time, as Eliza was by the milkshake bar; he would have to bide his time before making his move. No point in arousing suspicion when there was no real need to.

–

 **Headquarters**

".. _I've instructed the driver to wait at nearby co-ordinates until the cover story is finalized_ " Evans reported over the radio to Walkman, who was sitting cross-legged on the sofa in her office. "Fair enough – what's happened with the cover story? Why was it delayed?" the female President asked. " _At present moment, it looks like some kind of clerical error. But it's being sorted as we speak_ " the aide replied. "Ok, make sure it is. If we're gonna keep Benediktov in the dark, we have to do this within two hours" Walkman ordered as she spotted the door opening and a young bespectacled man popped his head through. "Sorry to interrupt, Ms Walkman, your daughter is right outside" he explained. She mouthed "one second" as she put her phone back to her ear. "I'll contact you as soon as I can and failing that, contact me when the group are at their target" she said as she hung up. As she looked up, the door was opening and a young teenage woman came up, clutching a backpack and suitcase. She smiled as she saw Walkman. "Mom!" she said as she effectively released the hold on her suitcase, allowing it to fall to the ground, whilst Walkman got up and embraced her daughter in a hug. "I'm sorry I couldn't come get you in person, Heather. Things have been a bit manic" she explained. "Ah, don't worry, mom. These things happen" the girl, called Heather, insisted.

As Walkman led her towards the sofa, the young girl quickly looked towards her. "What were you talking about on the phone, a group reaching its target?" she asked. Walkman looked at her, surprised at her choice of question, before smirking. "Ah, it's nothing to worry about, sweetie. Just some surveyors doing a job for me" she lied, covering the truth. Only Heather didn't look convinced. "Surveyors? Mom, it's nearly half 11 at NIGHT!" she replied. "It's a special kind of survey – one that you can only get from night-goers" Walkman continued to lie. As the two sat down, she continued. "Besides, you don't want to know anything about that – I'd rather we focused on how you've been. And from what you told me, I thought we were going to cut your hair before you came here" she'd only said that in the hopes that her daughter would drop the subject. But it didn't work, as Heather looked at her mother with an unimpressed look on her face. "You're lying to me again, aren't you?" she said, anger in her voice. "No, no.. honey, I'm not. You know I'd never hit anything from me" Walkman insisted, realizing what might happen. "You are! Mom, just admit it – you're hiding something from me! That's why you sent me to that clinic in the beginning" Heather snapped, interrupting quite abruptly "That is not why you went to the clinic – I am not hiding anything from you.." her mother replied in a bid to stop what was coming. But it didn't work.

"YOU BLOODY WELL ARE! FOR GOD'S SAKE, MOM, WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? _WHY DO YOU FEEL THE NEED TO CONSTANTLY LIE TO ME?_ ARE YOU ASHAMED OF ME, IS THAT WHY YOU LIE?!" the teenager suddenly yelled, part of her small rant being heard by the bespectacled young man outside, who almost flinched at what he heard. "Heather.." Walkman started. "Don't you "Heather" me, Mom! WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? I'M YOUR DAUGHTER, YOUR ONLY FLESH AND BLOOD; WHY DO YOU FEEL THE NEED TO CONTINUALLY KEEP THINGS FROM ME?" the teenager roared, before she turned around to face the wall and slammed her knee into it. "I HATE BEING KEPT IN THE DARK!" she said, slamming her knee into the wall multiple time, before being forcibly grabbed by the shoulders and turned around to face her mother. "Listen very closely – I am NOT keeping anything from you. You're right, you are my only flesh and blood and I am not keeping anything from you, I'm not hiding anything, I'm not covering anything up! You know me Heather Jasmine, am I one to keep secrets from you?" Walkman said quietly and calmly. Heather fought about it for just a few seconds. "You have before.." she said.

"To protect you, sweetheart! I care a lot about you and if I was lying to you, I would tell you straight away, I promise!" Walkman protested, hoping that her words were getting through. And it seemed that they were, as Heather bit her lip. "Have you been taking your mood stabilizers?" she continued, starting to question what the root of the problem may be. "I ran out before the plane took off" the young girl admitted. "Why didn't you tell anyone? Someone could have got you a new prescription" Walkman asked. "Because I feel embarrassed talking it, Mom! I feel embarrassed that I have this disorder... I feel embarrassed that I'm an inconvenience to you!" Heather finally admitted and would have probably gotten angry again had Walkman not grabbed her shoulders. "You are NOT an inconvenience! The fact is, sweetheart... the only reason I sent you to that clinic is because... because I've been really busy. This past month has been a complete blur, I've been working that hard. But all for you" she explained. "What do you mean?" Heather asked, confused. "Well.. let's just say that what I'm doing, what I've been doing for the last month, I'm getting to get a lot of money from it. Enough for us to make a fresh start" Walkman explained, smiling by the end. Heather's eyes rose in shock and then she looked away, almost embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, Mom. I guess..." she started, only for her mother to interrupt. "Heath, you've nothing to be sorry for. This is what it does to you – one minute, you feel like you're full of energy and the next minute, you just don't know what will happen" she insisted, smiling at the end. As Heather turned to the side, Walkman decided on what to do. "I'm gonna call the medical clinic downstairs – I want you to get down there, get some rest" she decided. Heather turned around in shock. "Mom, I only just got here! Why can't I stay up here with you?" she said, sounding upset. "I know, but... what I've got to do up here is extremely important. It's gonna last through the night and I need focus. However, once it's done, that's it – I'll be able to spend my time with you and you only. Besides.. we have a plane to catch at 9am tomorrow. I'd rather you got some sleep" her mother replied, grabbing her hands tight as she spoke. Heather thought it over before nodding. "Alright" she conceded. "Thanks, sweetie. MACK!" Walkman said before turning to in front of her door and shouting. The bespectacled young man poked his head around the door. "Yes, Ms Walkman?" he asked. "Contact the clinic, ask Dr Fremason to come up here – I'm gonna need him for a few hours" she ordered. "Of course, ma'am" Mack nodded before disappearing once again. Walkman smiled at her daughter and pulled her into a hug. "I promise you, darling – once I'm done, that's it. No more work, no more clinics, just you and me. Ok?" she said. Heather smiled.

–

23:26:15PM

 **White House**

"Please tell me you're joking, Mr Secretary!" McKaye said as he walked through the hallways of the White House. " _I'm afraid not, Agent McKaye_ " a male voice said over the phone

–

 **Sea of Japan**

Overflying the Sea of Japan was a Boeing C-32, a modified version of the Boeing 757 and used by the United States Air Force to carry members of either the Presidency or members of his cabinet to various locations around the world – onboard this C-32 was the Secretary of State and now in essence the second-in-command behind President Heller, Michael Gerrard. " _As it is, I won't be back in DC for another 12 hours._ At least!" Gerrard said, as he moved through the plane and towards his seat. " _So there's no way at all you can_ speed up your flight? As it stands, things here are in a state and if we're not careful _, I wouldn't put past something happening to the President!_ " the MI-5 agent said, getting more and more frustrated at what he considered to be a passive attitude from the Secretary. " _Mr McKaye, calm down._ This kind of thing is expected in recalling the Cabinet – really, _what's the worst that can happen?_ " Gerrard insisted. McKaye sighed; he really did not want to say this but now he felt that he had no choice. "We've identified the man who we think is behind the attacks – and quite frankly, _I wouldn't rule out him trying to shoot you down_ " he said sternly.

Gerrard looked a bit surprised by what the MI-5 agent had told him. "And why's that?" he said, no longer with a dismissive tone of voice. At first, there was no immediate reply. "The man behind the attacks.. he's taken control of a Borei-class submarine _that's armed with about 16 ballistic missiles and another 6 cruise missiles_ " came the reply. The Secretary fell silent and almost dropped his phone – he appeared deep in thought and McKaye waited patiently for a response as he walked before stopping outside the Oval Office. " _I'll speak with the pilots, see_ if we can speed up the flight. Whatever you do, Mr McKaye... _KEEP THE PRESIDENT SAFE! No matter what happens!_ " Gerrard finally said before hanging up abruptly. At that, McKaye snapped his phone shut and walked into the Oval Office, where Baylis and Heller were in discussion. Heller looked up. "What did Michael have to say?" he asked. "It's not good, Mr President. The Secretary of State said he won't be able to get to DC for at least another 12 hours" the MI-5 agent admitted. Baylis looked at him in shock. "12 hours? Is there no way he could get here faster?" he asked. McKaye shook his head. "He said he would try and talk with the pilots but worst case scenario, he wouldn't be in DC until after 11am" he said. He was then about to ask if whether the National Security Advisor had spoken with the remaining Cabinet members, only for him to notice Baylis's almost disappointed face. "Have you spoken with the rest of the Cabinet?" he asked slowly.

"Not quite all of them, but a good portion of them – and as it stands, the first member of the Cabinet to make it back here is in fact going to be the Secretary of State!" Baylis explained and McKaye gave a face of bewilderment. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Every single Cabinet member we've spoken to, Andrew, is on their way back here. But many of them have been delayed because of the submarine threat – as it stands, should something happen to me, there's no-one immediate to take my place!" Heller said. Deep in vote, McKaye turned away slightly, before realizing. "What about the Speaker of the House of Representatives? He's directly below the Vice-President, isn't here?" he asked. Baylis shook his head. "We've only just found out that the Speaker has been reported missing – he never showed up at the US Capitol this morning; police are looking for him" he revealed. "The pro tempore of the Senate?" the MI-5 agent replied. "He was on the helicopter carrying the Vice-President when it was shot down. As it stands, Michael Gerrard is next in line should anything happen" Heller explained. The look that the stunned McKaye gave looked like that of a deer in the headlights. "As it stands, we're on our own. Worst case scenario, the Secretary of State returns to a city in chaos" Baylis declared.

Almost on the other side of the White House, Jack had located Belcheck and both were waiting in what looked like a stand-by room. At first, they were sitting in silence. "What did Heller want to say to you?" Belcheck suddenly asked. Jack looked up, very slightly surprised. "He wanted to apologize to me.. something that happened nearly a decade ago" he said. "To do with Audrey?" the Serb continued. At that, Jack would have probably told him he didn't want to talk about it, mainly because of the memories it brought up, but he figured perhaps telling someone might make things easier to accept. "Yeah. Yesterday was the first time we spoke to each other in nearly 10 years – we didn't exactly depart on the best of terms. He wanted to apologize to me before his memory deteriorated too much. And to tell me he doesn't blame me for what happened in London" he said. Belcheck rose an eyebrow. "Why would he? You didn't kill Audrey, the Chinese did!" he pointed out. "Yeah, but I was the one who resurfaced. In saving the President, some would argue that my actions led to her death!" Jack pointed out. "But he just said he doesn't blame you. The way you're talking, you're sounding like he does" Belcheck argued, confused as to why Jack was seemingly blaming himself even when Heller had already absolved him of responsibility for what happened to Audrey.

"He doesn't – I'm just saying that whilst others might, he doesn't blame me" the former CTU agent insisted, his voice hinting he'd like to change the subject. Sensing this, the Serb decided to talk about something else. "What are you going to do once this whole thing is over?" he asked, remembering how Heller had given Jack a pardon for what happened in New York. Of course, this was what Jack had contemplated telling Heller when the two had spoken previously; here, he decided to admit the truth "As soon as this is done, I'm getting out the country" he finally said quietly. Belcheck looked at him in surprise, not expecting that. "I may be a free man here, but the fact is, I'm still a fugitive in the eyes of Russia. If they find out I'm still here, I wouldn't put it past them to declare war against this country just to get to me – I'm not gonna let that happen" Jack continued. "What about Kim?" the Serb pointed out. There was a cold, long silence before the former CTU agent looked at him. "I'd rather Kim had no idea I was here. I'm gonna help the White House through this and then I'm leaving, end of" he said firmly.

Realizing the whole situation was a bit sensitive, Belcheck decided to leave it at that – but inside, he couldn't help but feel worried. He'd know Jack a few months but he knew just how much of a troubled life he'd had. If only there was a way to make things better.

23:29:38PM

–

04:33:53PM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

The Yuri Dolgorukiy continued moving at speed through the dark depth of the ocean – inside, at the main control panel, Aralica and Chadli were maintaining the vessel's speed and control when one of the buttons started flashing. Checking the submarine's location against a map, Aralica quickly realized and spoke into his head-set. "General, come in please!" he said rather loudly. There were a few seconds of dead air. " _You called, Aralica?_ " Benediktov finally replied. "YES! We're at the half-way point; _we're about to turn towards the East Coast of America! Thought you want to know_ " the Croatian explained. "You thought correctly, I'm on my way to the bridge" the Russian declared before removing his own head-set and handing it to Krylenko. "I'll be back in 10 minutes, keep monitoring intelligence" he ordered the Ukranian as he headed towards the nearest stairs.

Dragusha had been spending the last hour listening to chatter and intelligence in the hopes of figuring out what might have happened to Eastern Cell, only to hear a noise. He looked up to see Divjak motioning him over to a private part of the submarine. "I'll be back in a second, Krylenko" the Albanian said as he took his head-set off and walked towards where the Bosnian was starting. As soon as he was sure they were not being listened to, he spoke. "What's up?" he asked quietly. "It's the General.. something doesn't seem right about him" Divjak replied. "He's been up for almost a day, Divjak; cut him some slack if he keeps yelling at you" the Albanian pointed out. "IT'S NOT THAT!" the Bosnian hissed quietly. "Well what then? You're being rather vague!" Dragusha retorted. Divjak sighed and pulled a neatly folded white sheet of paper from his pocket, handing it to the Albanian. "I was in the communication room, trying to see if they'd recorded any form of intelligence – I didn't find anything like that, but I found records of conversations between Benediktov and some strange woman from about three hours ago.." he explained as Dragusha opened up the sheet of paper and started to scan it. To his surprise, it was in-fact recorded details of a phone call that Benediktov had made to some unidentified person.

" **We will have time to mourn for those who have lost once the mission is complete. Talking of which, how far are you from the East Coast?"**

" **About nine or so hours. So far, we've not encountered any problems; even when we tested out that Bulava missile on that military plane"**

" **Excellent. Call me as soon as you're within three hours of reaching land for an update"**

" **Of course, Melina"**

The Albanian looked up with a look of surprise. "And there's more – I delved some research into this Melina and found out she could well be Melina Dimitrijevic" Divjak explained, which sent Dragusha's eyebrows raising. "You're joking?" he said. "To be honest, I wish I was. But then I found out something a bit surprising – I've got a contact in the Serbian mob and she says Dimitrijevic is dead; has been for months!" the Bosnian revealed. "You've been in contact with outside forces?!" Dragusha hissed in shock and bewilderment. "Yes.. but the fact is, if Dimitrijevic is dead, then who has the General been talking to? What if he has been talking with an imposter, someone who could tell President Heller our plans?! He has to know!" Divjak countered in protest. Dragusha sighed and slapped his hand against his forehead. "I appreciate it does sound suspicious but frankly, the evidence you have is flimsy at best! General Benediktov will not just rip it up but he'll have you crucified for talking to someone on the outside, regardless of if they were telling you the truth or not!" he declared.

"So what do you suppose I do? Keep quiet and watch as the Americans locate us?" Divjak suggested sarcastically. "Not at all – but if you want to get the General to listen to you, you need more evidence! Keep looking into this and try and get his attention with something a bit more concrete, ok?" Dragusha offered. Finally, his words got through as the Bosnian nodded. "Not a word of this to anyone" Divjak ordered. "Of course, I'll keep this secret" the Albanian agreed. "Dragusha!" Krylenko called and he turned around. "One second!" he said before exchanging a nod with his fellow Marina Cell member and heading back to where the Ukrainian national was waiting. Suddenly, the submarine surged to the right and Divjak had to force his hands against the wall to stop himself from losing balance – as it was, however, the submarine was merely turning to the right. "We are now on a direct course with Washington DC – ETA, 7am!" Aralica told Benediktov, who nodded smugly.

–

 **Washington DC**

The man that had spoken with Evans in the headquarters' warehouse jumped out of the truck as the driver walked towards the back of the truck, having parked in the middle of a large abandoned industrial site. As the driver pressed down on a brick-like console, which enabled the cargo door to lift up, the first man pulled out his radio and spoke into it. "We are at the co-ordinates; how much longer until the cover is in place?" he said, having suddenly switched to Russian. " _Give us another half-hour. Just be ready to move to the target_ " the voice on the other end ordered, also speaking in Russian. "Why are you speaking in another language?" the driver asked, slightly confused, as the truck door opened up, revealing another eight men as well as several boxes inside. "Orders of the President's aide – if we're being spied on, we have to throw our opponents off the scent. And by the time they figure out what's happening, it'll be too late" the first man said, reverting back to English. The driver simply nodded as he helped the men in the back of the truck out into the open.

–

 **Denny's**

Henderson had long-finished his meal, but continued to sip at his remaining orange juice as he kept a close eye on the police officer not too far away from him – sooner or later, he had to pounce. And thankfully, it seemed the officer was almost done, having spent the last 20 or so minutes either drinking his milkshake or exchanging conversation with Eliza. "Lovely as always, E – I'm gonna hit the men's room and then make my exit" he said, as she emptied his glass. "Lucky for some, Don; I'm still on shift for another hour" the waitress bemoaned, though her smile reappeared as the officer left her a $20 bill. "Keep the change" he said, before walking to his right and towards the men's toilets. As soon as he disappeared, Henderson downed the remaining bits of orange juice and got up, taking two $20 bills from his pocket and throwing them onto the empty plate. He walked towards the bathroom, almost un-noticed by everyone else in the restaurant and walked in. He headed towards the sink area and started to run the taps, splashing water onto his hands and throwing them onto his face – before he noticed he couldn't immediately see the officer. Biting his lip, he then heard the sounding of a toilet flushing. He sighed in relief as one of the cubicle doors open and the officer emerged.

Henderson finished cleaning himself up and grabbed some paper towels from the dispenser. "Where you headed then?" the officer suddenly asked and Henderson looked around, feigning surprise. "Oh, only DC. I'm heading there for a conference" he lied. "Really? I'm headed to DC as well!" the officer said, rather surprised as Henderson walked away from the dispenser. "If you don't mind my saying, you don't quite look like someone going to a conference.." he continued, not looking up from washing his hands. This turned out to be a fatal mistake as Henderson, with a spare paper towel in hand, thrush the towel over the officer's mouth and got a hold around him. At first, the officer tried to wrestle with him, but finally, Henderson's grip won out and the officer fell to the floor, knocked out. Searching around his gun holster, he quickly found the keys to the police car and stuffed them into his pocket. After some thought, he decided to take his gun – he might run into trouble and one gun may not be enough. Quickly looking up at the door, he slowly walked towards it and peered outwards to see if anyone was coming; there was not. Fully opening the door, he walked outwards and was almost out the door when he heard someone calling.

"Wait!" Henderson turned around to see Eliza walking up. "You paid too much; you didn't need the second $20" she said, holding the bill and several bits of change in her hand. "Don't worry – call the $20 your tip" he insisted, smiling but inwardly hoping he could get out of here within one or two minutes. "You sure?" the waitress asked, a little unsure. "Absolutely; you deserve it!" he again insisted. Finally, the waitress smiled. "Thanks. Enjoy your drive to DC!" she said before heading back to behind the bar. At that, Henderson headed back and into the cold dark night. Carefully ducking down to avoid being immediately spotted, he made his way to the driver's side of the police car and opened up the door. Taking his seat, he placed everything on him on the passenger seat and closed the door. After a quick look in the rear-view mirror to ensure no-one was watching him, he started up the car and rolled forward down a slight embankment, before heading back down the road he had been driving down before-hand.

Inside, however, Eliza looked up and was surprised to not see the police car. Her surprise gave way to confusion – the only person to have left the restaurant in the last few minutes was that unnamed man, so why was he driving the police car? Come to think of it, he'd gone into the men's bathroom AFTER the officer had and the officer hadn't come out. "I'll be back in a minute!" she told the other waitress, before coming out from behind the bar and walking towards the men's toilet – she'd not even walked straight in before she spotted the officer's unconscious body. "DON!" she cried, running towards him and kneeling down in an effort to wake him up. Slowly but surely, the officer stirred. "Where am I? What happened?" he slurred, before he felt around his holster. "My car keys! They're gone!" he realized, now fully awake before forcing himself up and running out of the bathroom, Eliza in hot pursuit. "Eliza, what's going on?" the second waitress asked as she saw her colleague following Don out of the restaurant. "I'll explain in a minute!" Eliza replied as she slammed the door open and spotted her friend starting in front of where his car had been parked.

Don quickly turned around. "Eliza, do you know who took the car?" he asked. "No.. I only saw the car being driven away and I went to find you. I don't know which way it went!" she protested. Don jumped down the embankment and looked both ways – there was no car to be seen. "Can't you radio it in?" she suggested and Don searched around for his radio, only he couldn't find it. "He's taken my radio!" he realized. Indeed, sitting on the passenger seat of the police car was his radio and Henderson smiled slightly, mainly out of relief that the plan worked.

–

23:43:58PM

 **White House**

The phone on Heller's desk started to ring and the President picked up. "This is Heller" he answered. " _Sir, it's Agent Polston. I think we have a lead!_ " Polston explained. "Go on!" Heller said, almost instantly. "I just got off the phone with a contact at NCIS – one of their agents was monitoring intelligence and she picked up something. Might be nothing, but she _heard what sounded like Russians discussing something about a "cover" and a "target"_ " the agent revealed as he walked through the hallways of the House. "Whereabouts was this heard?" Heller asked. " _We narrowed it down_ to an industrial park about 10 minutes from here. I think it's worth _checking out!_ " Polston continued. "I'll get someone on it, thank you son" the President agreed before hanging up.

In the stand-by room, Jack was looking outside of a window when his phone started to ring. "This is Bauer" he said, answering before the phone had a chance to complete a second ring. " _Jack, we might have something_ " Heller replied as Jack motioned Belcheck over. " _One of my agents was contacted_ by a source of his at the Navy Yard – he says we might have a lead. Apparently, there might be European nationals _at an industrial park not far from here and they might be planning something_ " the President continued. "The person who reported it, are they verified?" Jack asked, a little unsure as it sounded a bit far-fetched. " _It came from the Navy Yard, Jack –_ I doubt they'd report it if they didn't believe it" Heller pointed out. " _Ok, I'm on_ it!" the former CTU agent agreed, only for Belcheck to grab his hand. "Mr President, it's Belcheck – _to be honest, I think I should investigate this alone!_ " he declared. Jack and Heller both gave looks of confusion. "I'm not too sure that's a good idea!" Heller said. " _Yeah,_ I agree with the President on this – it's too dangerous to check it alone" Jack backed up. "I need to check this alone, I'm not putting anyone else in danger!" the Serb countered. "By going it alone, you're putting yourself in danger unnecessarily! You need backup" the former CTU agent protested.

"I have to do this alone, there's no other choice!" Belcheck said, rather insistently. Before Jack could fire back, Heller intervened. " _Hold on a second!_ " he said as loudly as he could, which was thankfully enough for Jack to hear. "Sir?" he asked. " _Put me on with Belcheck_ " the President ordered. Jack silently handed the phone to Belcheck. " _Ok, let me get one thing clear_ – why do you want to do this alone?" Heller asked. " _It's simple, sir_ – I'm Serbian. As we've figured out so far, it's likely the people behind the attacks _are from European countries. If I go alone and this threat turns out to be real_ , then I could infiltrate the group and relay what they're planning!" the Serb explained. Jack wasn't convinced. "Sir, it's Jack. _I'm not convinced – something about this doesn't seem right_ " he spoke into the phone. Heller thought about it for a few seconds. "As it stands, I'm more leaning towards Belcheck – _it's worth a shot, Jack! And besides, if he does go on his own and it turns out to be nothing_ , you'll still be here in case something else comes out!" he decided, having been convinced by the Serb's argument.

Jack nodded. "Yes, sir" he said. " _I'll order for a car to be ready and for the exact details to be relayed_ " Heller added. "Of course, Mr President" the former CTU agent said before hanging up. He looked towards Belcheck. "You sure you want to do this?" he asked. "Yes" the Serb nodded confidently. "Right, be one second" Jack replied, as he moved towards a cupboard and opened it, pulling out a small suitcase.

23:47:42PM

–

23:53:14PM

 **Washington DC**

Belcheck was now on the roads of DC, driving away from the White House – owing to the state of emergency, the car that Heller had ordered for the Serb was ready at the front within just two minutes of the order. He'd left the premises at 23:49, which meant that he'd make it to the industrial park just minutes before midnight. " _Try tuning your radio until you find the frequency they might be using._ The agent at NCIS reported that the frequency she was on was 386MHz or thereabouts" McKaye suggested over the phone. " _Roger that_ " the Serb confirmed. "And one more thing – _try and keep your contact with us to a minimum, just in case you do have to go undercover_ " the MI-5 agent added. Belcheck resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "You can relax, Agent. I've done this before – _it's not like I'm gonna go rogue and turn against you!_ " he replied. At that, McKaye did roll his eyes. "I guess that's true – _but still, take care_ " he insisted. "I will!" the Serb replied, before hanging up and leaning towards the radio given to him, shifting the frequency.

In a private part of the White House, meanwhile, Chloe was hard at work – as instructed by Heller, she was looking for information that might link anyone in DC, but particularly anyone in the government, to the terrorists. It was becoming increasingly clear that the so-called "A.F.E" had allied themselves with people inside the capital city with the only setback being that she didn't know where to start. As such, she decided to delve into what there was of the "A.F.E" - and she was able to find a website with details about it. Wasn't the most traceable as it was under a false name but she found it, containing propaganda videos, photos of an A380 plane, photos of a missile and much more. But nothing linking back to possible suspects. Frustrated, she minimized the tab and started to look for something else – and then she found something. She'd intended to go on another website but a mis-click had taken her onto a police website; she was about to go back onto the search engine but something caught her eye. It was a report of a missing person, a Doctor Colin Fremason, who had last been seen nearly 12 hours ago. Clearly this Doctor Fremason was known to Chloe as her face turned into a frown. "Colin?" she said and she followed the link onto what looked like a missing person's section of the site.

There, she found about 11 more people who had been reported missing since 12pm Washington time – including a Marek Styzko. And there was a link that bought all these people together.. their last known location was at a large industrial complex about 15 minutes away from the White House. Looking up the location, Chloe then found something else – the site was owned by a company called Guardstrom, which specialized in weapon development. And the president of the company was a woman called Jordan Walkman. Intrigued by what she had found out, the former analyst delved further and further into the website.

–

 **Headquarters**

Looking at the body of Heather, fast asleep on a clinic bed and in a separate room, was a tall doctor. He was just turning out the lights to the room when he heard the door open behind him – coming into the clinic was President Walkman. "She asleep?" she asked, indicating Heather. "Yeah; she did have a bit of a mood swing, but she calmed down once she had a dose of stabilizers" the doctor confirmed. Walkman nodded and there was a deadly silence. "How long has she had the Bipolar diagnosis?" he asked suddenly. Walkman looked up, not expecting the question. "About 10 years – there are good and bad days, no real in-between if I'm honest" she said, crossing her arms. "Bipolar is not something you can really control. I'm hoping the new prescription will give her more control" the doctor added. Walkman rose an eyebrow. "You gave her a new prescription?" she asked. "Yeah, I know she has a current one but I think this one could work" he admitted. "Oh. Ok. I appreciate that, Colin, thank you" the President said, sounding grateful.

The doctor, now identified as Colin and therefore Dr Fremason, noticed something didn't seem right with the female President. "Is everything ok, ma'am?" he asked. "Yeah, yeah.. I'm just tired. I've been up since 4am" Walkman insisted. "Maybe you should get some rest – I can prep a bed for you" Fremason offered. "NO! No, it's ok, Colin. Thank you. But I'll only rest as soon as the job is done – a lot has gone into today. I can't afford to stop" she insisted, before promptly leaving. A bit taken aback by the President's attacks, Colin headed back towards his desk and towards his computer. "A bit strange – why would she be so scared to not rest over something like drug manufacturing?" he thought to himself as he closed down his emails.. only just missing an email coming in from the Washington Police Department, which had a subject matter of "Missing Man: Colin Fremason".

–

23:57:34PM

 **Industrial Park**

Waiting by the side of the truck was the man Evans had been talking to, his radio in his right hand. He carefully looked around the park, trying to figure out where the target was, when the radio buzzed to life. " _Is everyone ready?_ " the voice from earlier asked, again speaking in Russian. "Yes – we are currently waiting for the cover story" he replied, also in Russian. " _Well fear no more_ ; the cover story has finally been completed!" the voice, who turned out to actually be Evans, replied. "As it stands, _you are heading to the target as a maintenance crew; you are required to make repairs to one of the underground tunnels!_ " he continued, none of them aware that they were being listened to by Belcheck – and one of the languages the Serb was fluent in was Russian so he was able to understand what they were talking about. " _Just to confirm, you have the co-ordinates?_ " Evans continued. " _Affirmative – 38,53,23,24. Not that that will mean much to the Americans, of course!_ " came the response. Confused, the Serb picked up his PDA as he drove as quietly as he could into the industrial park, not wanting to be spotted.

He typed in the numbers 38, 53, 23, 24and pressed enter as he parked behind a truck trailer – picking up his gun and the PDA, the Serb then made his way out of the car, only to be stopped by a rather unusual part of conversation. " _I take it the President has not figured it out yet?_ " one person asked. " _That's a negative. It won't be long before he does but sooner or later, he'll make the connection that you and everyone else who's a part of the next few attacks are in fact the prisoners whose release he ordered!_ " Evans replied. Belcheck stopped, shocked – he'd heard something about a Statewide Cell being a part of the A.F.E, but he had no idea that the prisoners that Heller had ordered to be released from prisons across the country were in-fact Statewide Cell! With this knowledge, the Serb quickly moved away from the car and hid behind another truck trailer, quickly spotteing a smaller truck parked not too far from him. "We move out in five minutes – it will take 15 minutes to get there and we need time to set up before the ruse is discovered! Understood?" the driver explained, now speaking American and with an American accent.

Belcheck was even more confused. "As it stands, if we ruin this chance, we ruin our chances of striking at the heart of the Presidency!" the driver continued. The Serb quickly felt the PDA vibrating and looked at it to notice that its co-ordinates search was complete. He looked over them, then froze. His blood ran cold. He was looking at the co-ordinates for the National Mall, right near the White House. And to make matters worse, the exact target... was the United States Capitol.

12:00:00AM

* * *

What do you think will happen next? Will Belcheck be able to warn the White House without giving himself away? Rate and review!


	14. 14: 12am - 1am (WET)

Hello! I'm alive - hope everyone following the story is ok. Here is Hour 14. Expect several twists and turns within this chapter

 **DISCLAIMER: See Chapter 1**

* * *

14: 12am – 1am (W.E.T):

 **The following takes place between 12am and 1am, Washington Eastern Time:**

–

12:00:01AM

 **Industrial Park**

Belcheck pressed his back against the side of the truck trailer he was on – he wanted to throw up and he knew that if he ever felt like that, something was seriously wrong. Not only was the tip-off from NCIS 100% true, but the terrorists he'd uncovered were planning to strike at the heart of the Presidency; aside from the White House itself, you couldn't get as close to the government as you could than the United States Capitol. Home to Congress and the meeting place for both the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Serb looked back towards his well-hidden car and contemplated running back to warn Jack or the President, but he quickly realized that even if he did warn them, it didn't guarantee that anyone would be able to stop them. He grimly knew the truth; he would have to infiltrate the group and try and stop the attacks himself. It was risky, but it was a hell of a lot better than the other option. With a sigh, he discreetly made his way closer and closer to the group.

At that moment, the group were loading themselves back into the truck. As the man who'd spoken to Evans via radio climbed into the front of the truck, the driver prepared to close up the loading door. He was about to press the downwards button when one of the men heard a noise. "Hold it!" he said suddenly. The driver looked up in surprise as the man came up to just under the loading door. "What's up, Pederson?" he asked. "I thought I heard something – sounded like someone else was here" the man, identified as Pederson, insisted. The driver looked back and saw nothing. "We are in an industrial park, Pederson. There's bound to be movement" he pointed out, only to hear a loud clang from behind a truck trailer. Now starting to believe the claim, the driver pulled a gun from his holster and motioned to five other men in the truck to follow him. The six-man group walked as slowly as possible to the far side of the trailer, until the driver saw what looked like a pair of legs slightly visible near the wheels of the cargo trailer. Finally, he lunged forward and pointed his gun at the figure – pretending to be caught by surprise, Belcheck threw his hands up.

"DON'T SHOOT!" he yelled in Serbian. As he expected, the driver stopped in surprise and motioned for the other gun-men to stop moving. He lowered his gun slightly. "Who the hell are you?" he asked, speaking in Serbian himself and with an accent. "Believe me, I'm not spying. I know there have been attacks on America in the last few hours. Whatever it is you're doing... I want to join" Belcheck replied, hoping that the men would believe him. Pederson lowered his gun and walked towards the Serb, stopping to the side of the driver. He noticed some strange marks on Belcheck's arm. "What's on your arm?" he said, now putting on a Croatian accent. Belcheck slowly pulled his sleeve back to reveal his tattoo, complete with four slashes. "You're with the Serbian mob?" Pederson said, something that surprised the driver. "I was" the Serb said simply. Pederson urged to the rest of the men they could lower their weapons. "Why are you here?" the driver asked, still partly suspicious. "Like I said, I learnt of the attacks against the country. I want to help out – American forces massacred my family years ago and I've been out for vengeance ever since!" Belcheck lied, slightly warping the truth.

At last, the driver fully lowered his gun and walked towards him. "What's your name?" he asked. "Belcheck" the Serb replied "I'll need to check you out, make sure you're the real deal" he said as he picked up his radio and walked to the other side of the trailer. Inside, Belcheck was starting to question whether or not it was a wise idea to leave all his gear in his hidden car – in thinking about it, whilst it probably was a wise decision as he didn't want to give himself away, it meant he would have to find another way of alerting the White House. On the other side of the trailer, the driver spoke into his radio. "Base, come in" he said, very quietly so that no-one else could hear and in English There were a few seconds of silence before Evans finally responded. " _What is it, Montanner? And I thought we agreed_ not to speak in English over the radio!" he said sternly. " _I KNOW! But something's come up –_ I need you to look into someone for me" the driver, named Montanner by Evans, replied, almost losing his cool in desperation. " _What do you need?_ " Walkman's aide asked. "Just before we left, we found some guy spying _on us. He says he was only spying as he wants to join us in attacking the country!_ " came the reply. Evans' eyes shot up in surprise. "How can you be sure he's genuine and not some spy?" he asked. " _Because..._ he had a tattoo on him. Pederson recognized it as Serbian mob" Montanner explained.

" _Serbian mob? Did you get a name?_ " Evans pushed. "Ye.. yes actually! _He said he was called Belcheck?_ " the driver replied. "I see.. now that I think about it, it makes sense. _I have a contact in the Serbian mob and he said that this Belcheck_ disappeared about three days ago. Apparently, he had a rather Anti-American belief so perhaps he got wind of the A.F.E movement _and came here!_ " Evans revealed – of course, he didn't know that the real reason Belcheck had been missing was because he was in London with Jack Bauer. "Ok, but what do we do? If we let him in on the plans, we risk being _exposed!_ " Montanner protested. "Calm down, son, calm down. As it is, letting this Belcheck _in on our plans works in our favour_ " Walkman's aide revealed. "Sir?" the driver asked. " _Belcheck is Serbian, the rest of you American._ The government believes the attacks in the last few hours are the work of the Allied Forces of Europe. _If we expose Belcheck enough, the belief that the attacks are by European nationals_ will grow and grow – as for us, well.. we'll be out of the picture by the time _the President realizes the truth_ " he explained calmly. As Montanner took it in, he slowly realized. "Yes, sir. We'll leave right away" he declared.

" _You better. As it stands,_ the current session of Congress is coming to an end. You must strike before the end of the hour!" Evans explained as he placed his radio back in his holster and looked at his iPad, which was showing different feeds of security from the US Capitol. "Looks like our White House source came through.." he said to himself very quietly. Montanner walked back to the group. "Looks like your story checks out.." he said with a fake Russian accent, looking directly at Belcheck and with his same cold expression. Finally, he smiled. "..welcome to the team!" he said and the Serb sighed in fake relief. "We leave in two minutes! Board the truck whilst I brief our newest member on the mission!" Montanner continued, giving orders to the rest of the group. As Pederson led them back towards the truck, the driver looked over Belcheck once more. "Our mission is simple – we are going to attack the United States Capitol building" he explained. The Serb already knew that but he nodded calmly. "How? Considering the last few hours, it's going to be heavily guarded" he asked. Montanner motioned for the Serb to follow him. "That may be true, but we've got a source in the White House who has managed to get us inside. We're going in as maintenance workers, under the ruse of making repairs to the air conditioning" the driver revealed.

Belcheck didn't like where this was going. "And then what? We won't have much space to do anything without being caught" he pointed out. "True – but to be honest, we don't need to go anywhere. We're there to make repairs to the air conditioning and repairs is what we'll do. Roberge, open it up!" Montanner said as they neared the back of the truck, before giving orders to one of the men. "Yes, sir" the man replied as he removed the lid off a large wooden box and pulled a metal tube out. A metal tube that Belcheck recognized. Roberge pulled the lid off and up with it came small string rows of green spheres. VX gas, the same VX gas from Flight 681. "That... that's..." he stuttered. "VX gas, yes. We're going to add the VX gas into the ventilation and then detonate it. The air in the building and surrounding area will be completely unbreathable!" Montanner declared. The feeling of throwing up reappeared in Belcheck's body – he was certain that the gas had been taken into police custody. He needed to warn Heller, but he'd only be able to do it inside the Capitol building and not just with limited time, but limited space. "I think I've covered the basics.." the driver said as he prepared to head towards the front of the truck. "One more thing!" the Serb said suddenly. Montanner turned around. "Yes?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

"This... White House source. Who is he?" Belcheck asked. The driver shrugged. "I have no idea. When he spoke to us, he requested we don't use names" he admitted. Disappointed at the lack of name, the Serb nodded before climbing into the back of the truck as Montanner walked towards the driver's seat. He did stop to ponder why Belcheck asked such a question, but he shrugged. As he took a side right next to the boxes of VX gas canisters, the Serb started to question if whether this was such a good idea; if anything went wrong, not only could he be exposed but the whole city could be at risk! He needed to think up a way of alerting the White House and quick.

Inside his car, meanwhile, his radio was picking up desperate voices. " _Belcheck, come in! Come in, Belcheck, acknowledge!_ " Baylis pleaded.

–

12:08:23AM

 **White House**

The National Security Advisor sighed in frustration. "Something's happened. Belcheck's not picking up or responding" he said, as he turned around to face Heller. But he was surprised when the former President didn't show the same worry as him. "I know you think it was a bad idea to send him out there alone, Brian, but there's nothing to worry about" he replied. "Yes, but how can you be so sure though? I mean, have you seen him in action?" Baylis countered, mainly out of curiosity. Heller was about to reply with how the Serb had driven him back to Downing Street following his near-death at Wembley Stadium, but he stopped. He couldn't seem to remember. "Seen who in action?" he said instead. Baylis stopped, a frown developing. "Belcheck, sir. You know, the man we sent out to investigate the industrial park" he reminded. Still, Heller remained blank. "I don't know any Belcheck – you sure you've not got him mixed up with someone on my detail?" he suggested. The NSA quickly realized what was going on and shook his head. "I'll be right back, sir" he said quietly before leaving quickly, as Heller watched him with a surprised look on his face.

Outside, Baylis picked up his phone and started dialling. In the stand-by room, Jack's phone started to ring. "This is Bauer" he said. " _Jack, is your line secure?_ " Baylis asked quietly. The former CTU agent stopped, not expecting such a question. "Yeah, it's secure. Something wrong, sir?" he asked. The NSA sighed, partially reluctant to speak about the President behind his back. "It's about the President, Jack. _I don't think he can continue office for any longer; his state of mind is getting worse_ " he admitted. Jack rose an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Look, I get you're worried but you're forgetting that _he's got us to keep him going for another few hours at least_ " he replied. "Jack, he just forgot who _Belcheck was. When I tried to remind him, he thought I got him mixed up_ with a member of his detail" Baylis revealed, almost a bit too bluntly. Jack was a bit surprised – it could only mean that perhaps Heller's memory was starting to deteriorate quicker than expected. He was sure that the President would make it at least to the end of the crisis in the state he was, but now it seemed unlikely. "We'll just have to be more careful with him" he decided. But Baylis wasn't convinced with that idea. " _I don't know, Jack_ – frankly, following the attack in London, the world's going to catch on that he's not fit to run office. At the minute, _I'm seriously considering invoking the 25_ _th_ _Amendment_ " he admitted.

"With all due respect, sir, ARE YOU CRAZY? That's the last thing _we need! This country is under attack – the Vice-President is dead, the Cabinet could be at risk and there's potentially terrorists in the city!_ We need the President in office for as long as possible!" Jack hissed, bewildered at how the National Security Advisor could even suggest removing Heller from office, mainly when there was no immediate replacement. "I don't like it anymore than you do, Jack, but at the minute, what choice do we have?" the NSA insisted. " _We always have a choice!_ And at the minute, this is not the one we need" the former CTU agent retorted. He expected Baylis to reply straight away but was surprised when he could only hear slight breathing over the phone. " _We always have a choice, eh?_ Does that apply to you, Jack? I've read your record _and frankly, I don't think you've a right to lecture me about choices_ " Baylis replied. Jack was floored – he wasn't expecting that, but then his shock turned to anger. "What... does that have to do with anything?" he snarled quietly. " _Everything –_ we have a duty to this country, Jack and frankly, considering your past actions, I'm amazed that the President pardoned you at all. You're a criminal for what you did in New..." the NSA started to explain, only to be interrupted mid-sentence. Jack had had enough. "YOU KNOW WHAT, SIR? Go ahead, invoke the 25th Amendment! But I will fight you and your decisions until _this crisis is over!_ " he snapped, slamming the phone shut as he finished. He was beyond angry and slammed his fists into a wall as he looked up at the CCTV camera. Baylis had crossed a line in more ways than one and he was not going to put up with that.

And neither was he going to let him try and force Heller out of the office – of course, Jack had no desire to be involved in the political games of the government but neither did he have any desire to just sit back and do nothing whilst the President was subjected to things he did not deserve to face.

–

 **American Road**

No-one could really argue that the night-sky currently above the country wasn't beautiful – the full moon shone down without a cloud in the sky and with stars dotted all over the place. Henderson was thankful for this as he drove down a road that did not have any lamp-posts; even with headlights on the stolen police-car, he could have easily crashed on a road like this. As the car drove at speed, Henderson quickly noticed a sign - "Washington DC, 40 miles". He gave a slight smile: so long as he didn't run into problems, he would make it to the outskirts of the capital within the hour. All of a sudden, he felt a vibrating and saw his phone ringing. Quickly peeking at the number, he gave an irritated sigh and turned on his ear-piece. "I thought we agreed to keep contact to the minimum.." he said, unimpressed. " _I appreciate that, but I've_ hit a problem" Cannavale said, having pulled the van he was driving over to the side of the road. " _What's wrong?_ " the reply came.

"Well, up until now, I haven't had any problems on the road but I've just come across a checkpoint. I got through it alright but _I've been warned there should be more going into DC!_ " the driver explained. Henderson's eyes rose in surprise – he had been so sure that there wouldn't be any checkpoints going into DC. "What about Bauer's daughter?" he asked. " _She's fine. Thankfully,_ the officers at the checkpoint didn't check what I was carrying but they said I might not be as lucky at later checkpoints!" Cannavale explained, as he looked in the rear-view mirror at Kim, who was still unconscious and still tied up. " _Ok... how far are you from DC?_ " Henderson asked. "If I keep on driving, about 30 minutes but longer _with the checkpoints.._ " Cannavale revealed. "Right... ok, here's what you're gonna do – _when you next see a checkpoint, I want you to abandon your vehicle. You'll have to get yourself and Bauer's daughter into the city another way_ " came the reply. Cannavale was visibly shocked. "That's crazy, we'll never get there before 3am!" he insisted. " _Maybe, maybe not_ – but really, do you have much choice in the matter?" Henderson pointed out.

Cannavale stopped – he was right, he didn't have much choice in the matter. "I'll try and find a vehicle when I've cleared the final checkpoint – _then I'll wait for you_ " he said before hanging up. Henderson grimaced; it was highly likely there would be checkpoints along this road as well and if the officers there realized who he was, he'd never escape. Clutching onto the steering wheel, he swerved sharply to the left and onto the grass. Ahead of him was a large forest, somewhere he was hoping would give the needed cover.

12:12:31AM

–

12:17:17AM

 **White House**

Chloe knew she was onto something – her research into the company known as Guardstrom had bought about some surprising information. Guardstrom was not just a company, it was a registered defence contractor for the United States Army. Nothing wrong with that, but she was a bit suspicious as over 10 people going missing near a large defence contractor couldn't be a coincidence and especially considering that not many people could know that was where they were situated. With regards to the information that she had found on Jordan Walkman, it wasn't much; apart from that she was a woman in her early 50's with seemingly no family ties apart from her teenage daughter, as well as her having been President of the contractor for about four years, having taken over from her grandfather Jordan Walkman III. If there was something that linked her to this, it was well-hidden.

But the former analyst could not help thinking about the link between the contractor and Dr Fremason – he and her were close childhood friends until they drifted apart when he moved to DC. She had never mentioned him to anyone as she saw no need to. She decided to check it out, see if Colin had had any contact with Walkman financially or something related so she went onto a financial website and started delving.

She fought something almost straight away, but it was not what she was expecting – she'd hacked into Walkman's main bank account and found it to be empty. Not a dollar, not a cent, nothing. You'd think that for being the President of a registered defence contractor, she'd have something in her account. Chloe looked through everything she could on the account, in hopes of finding something, but still nothing, not even on the transactions page. It was like the account had been completely emptied, like someone had something to hide. She was about to close the page when she saw a notification pop up under "Incoming money"; curious, she clicked on it and was shocked to see a tab saying "Incoming: $20,000,000" and with a note attached. Clicking on the note, Chloe found an interesting message.

"I know you said not to send the money to this account, Jordan, but as it is, I've had no choice. Long story short, the job is done – the soldiers and rebels who pursued Bauer, they've all been eliminated. Benediktov has no clue this has happened; so far, he's fallen right into our trap and sooner or later, he'll have no way out of it. GB"

Chloe was stunned; the Russians who chased Jack halfway across the Ukraine and back, dead? Once again, nothing added up.. until it dawned on her. What if Walkman had a role in this? What if she had been following Jack's actions from when he crash-landed in the Ukraine? There was a strong chance she might have been manipulating the A.F.E's actions, to lure Jack back to America. She needed to tell Heller or anyone about this.. but she also needed to find a link between Jack and Walkman, find out why Walkman would want Jack in DC. She was about to make her decision, until she saw what looked like an attachment to the note. She clicked on it and was met with photos of dead Russian soldiers as well as dead Ukraine rebels. Chloe now knew what needed to be done; she needed Jack here now to identify. Grabbing her phone, she typed in a number rapidly and dialled. In the stand-by room, the phone rang and Jack, although hesitant at first, eventually moved to answer it. "This is Bauer" he said. " _Jack, are you still in the stand-by room?_ " Chloe said. "Yeah... _how come, Chloe?_ " Jack said, his eyebrow raised at such a question. "I need to see you right now, I think I've found something" the former analyst insisted. "I don't understand; if you've found something, why not _take it to Heller?_ " he asked. "It's complicated – can you please just get here now? _I wouldn't ask if I wasn't sure_ " Chloe pointed out. She did have a point. "I'll be there in five minutes" Jack agreed as he hung up.

–

 **12th Street Tunnel**

Emerging from the tunnel was the truck, driving upwards towards the Capitol building on the left. In the back of the truck, Belcheck had changed outfits and much like everyone else in the back, was wearing a blue jacket with the logo "AirCool Conditioning" on it, a light blue hat and black trousers. A panel linking the back of the truck to the driver's side opened up and Montanner called out. "Nearly there, lads. Just a bit more to go" he revealed as the driver next to him drove to the right and past the Smithsonian Museum. Belcheck was hitting myself mentally; not matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come up with a sensible plan to alert Jack and the White House without being exposed to the rest of the group. Alerting them by privately contacting them wouldn't work as he would most likely not have a chance to or he might be shadowed by someone else. He was running out of time and fast if he wanted to stand a fighting chance of warning the President. And he certainly did not want to do anything stupid or borderline risky, especially considering the Capitol building would have increased security in light of the death of the Vice-President yesterday evening as well as the deaths of the First Daughter and the Chief of Staff.

In the front of the truck, Montanner picked up his radio. "This is Montanner to base; we are nearly at the Capitol, over" he spoke into it in Russian. Dead air followed until a male voice replied. " _Roger that. Maintain radio silence unless absolutely necessary_ – and good luck" Evans said, just as he spotted Walkman coming into the room. As soon as he put the radio back, she spoke. "Have they arrived?" she asked. "Not quite, but they're not far off. And even then, we'll be keeping an eye out just to make sure" Evans explained, pulling the screen on a laptop upwards to reveal four different screens – and all of them looking like security footage. Walkman gave him a look of surprise. "This, Madame President, is footage live from the United States Capitol. Don't ask me how, but someone managed to hack in without being spotted" the young aide revealed. Walkman's surprise turned to one of almost-hidden delight. "Well that's brilliant. But why are we monitoring the footage? Don't you trust the group?" she asked, but with curiosity rather than suspicion in her voice. "It's not a case of that, it's so we can monitor anything irregular and then warn them in advance. But we won't do it for everything and anything, only if something unexpected happens" Evans assured. Walkman nodded, now understanding what her aide was going to do. "Keep me posted, I'm going to see how the weapon's coming along" she ordered before leaving no sooner than she had walked in.

Montanner looked out of the truck's front windscreen and looked to the right; he smiled. There on the right was the United States Capitol building. He pulled the panel to the side and spoke to the men in the back. "Get ready to move, lads. We're here!" he declared. As he closed the panel, the men started to move things into position, which included putting the crates onto a trolley, making sure the crate with the VX gas and the explosives were at the far back. "This was it" Belcheck thought to himself, as he desperately continued to think of a plan. The truck turned to the right and was met by a security guard next to a checkpoint. The driver sitting next to Montanner rolled down his window. "Identification please" the guard asked and the driver showed him two ID tags, one for himself and the other for Montanner. "You're AirCool conditioning, right?" the guard asked again and the driver nodded. "Anyone in the back of the truck?"

"Yes, the rest of our men. Here are their ID tags" Montanner spoke up, handing the guard a checklist which had the (fake) identities of the group on them. The guard nodded. "Just give us two minutes, need to check the outside of the vehicle" he explained as two other guards, one with a sniffer dog, started to investigate the truck. In the back, one of the men handed Belcheck a gun complete with a silencer. "Just in case" he whispered. Of course, the Serb hoped it wouldn't come to bloodshed but he took the gun anyway and stood up, moving into a shooting position next to everyone else. As the dog sniffed around the tires, the second guard moved a metal detector to underneath the areas of the truck where the dog couldn't reach. The seconds ticked by as Montanner desperately hoped they wouldn't detect the explosives – of course, they weren't metal and he'd done well to hide them within the crate, but you never knew what you might happen. Finally, the guard came up. "Seems in order. Sorry for the extra security, but with the White House on alert.." he apologized before nodding towards the checkpoint gate. Within seconds, the barrier lifted up and the driver drove forward.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Benediktov opened the door to his office and walked in, followed by Dragusha. The Albanian closed the door after him as the Russian General turned around. "Ok, Dragusha, what's so important that we had to do this in private?" he asked, sounding somewhat unimpressed. "I had no choice, General. I didn't want to come across as directly challenging you, not in front of everyone else" the Albanian insisted. Benediktov rose an eyebrow and put his hands on his hips to indicate to Dragusha to continue. "...do you.. have a back-up plan?" the Albanian finally asked. Benediktov looked at him like he was stupid. "I'm sorry?" he asked. "A back-up plan. Do we have one?" the Albanian asked again, this time more insistently. "Dragusha, have you taken a knock on the head? Our plan is simple, why on earth would we need a back-up?" Benediktov asked, flabbergasted. "I've been monitoring the weather reports for the East Coast of America – a massive storm has been predicted for the DC area and we're set to arrive in the worst of it" Dragusha insisted.

Benediktov looked like he was about to start yelling at the Albanian, but he stopped – at least in the long-term scheme of things, he did have a valid concern. A violent storm when they were planning to attack the capital was not what they needed at all. The General turned away from his follower, deep in thought. "Do we postpone the attack, sir?" Dragusha asked. The seconds ticked by as Benediktov remained silent. "Sir?".

"No. Keep us on track. If we stay underwater, we won't be affected when the storm hits. And that includes firing the missiles underwater as well" the Russian finally decided. Of course, the submarine's firing capabilities weren't as good when it was completely underwater as opposed to when it was only partially submerged. "And I know we planned to hit certain targets based on the radar, but now we'll have to get the exact co-ordinates for when we get there. No point hitting targets no-one will care about" he added. Dragusha nodded. "Yes, sir" he agreed. "That'll be all" Benediktov added, indicating the Albanian could leave. Realizing what he meant, Dragusha left quietly. As he closed the door, he spied Divjak working away. Remembering what the Bosnian was talking about an hour earlier, he went up to him. "Found anything?" he asked. Divjak shook his head. "Not much, a few snippets here and there but as you said earlier, nothing concrete" he explained. Dragusha turned his head over his shoulder to make sure no-one was watching them before replying. "Search up any bank accounts you can find; I'm sure there'll be something hidden there" he ordered. The Bosnian eyed him. "You ok? You seem tense?" he asked.

Dragusha was unsure of whether or not to tell him; ultimately, his gut won out. "I'm slowly starting to think you might be right – I've just spoken with the General and something's not right with him. He seems insistent on pushing on the mission, even though I told him we'll be heading straight into a storm" he revealed. Divjak looked at him, surprised. "Storm?" he asked. "Yeah; I was checking the weather reports. There's a massive thunderstorm predicted for the East Coast set to last hours. But yet he seems insistent we continue the attack in spite of it" the Albanian added. Seconds passed as the two fell silent. "I'll be on the bridge if you need me; keep looking" he ordered the Bosnian, who nodded and watched as he left.

–

00:27:14AM

 **White House**

As soon as she heard knocking, Chloe was out of her chair and heading towards the door. She checked the small peep-hole and as soon as she saw Jack, she opened it. "Get in, quickly" she whispered and the former agent moved inside. "Ok, what's this about, Chloe?" he asked. Chloe motioned him towards the computer. "I was looking up information as the President asked for and I didn't find much, at least nothing with concrete proof to back it up with. But then I found this whilst searching back accounts. Any of these people you recognize?" she explained and asked, as she bought up the photo attachment. Jack looked carefully; he recognized the outfit on the body as that of a Ukraine rebel but that was it. He shook his head. "Can't recall seeing him.." he said. Chloe clicked on the laptop mouse and the photo was replaced with another. This time, it was a Russian soldier's dead body but still his face was a blank to Jack. "Or him" he replied. Another computer click and another photo came up. This time, the former CTU agent's eyes rose in shock.

"That's the driver of the platoon who picked me up!" he realized. Having hit a match, Chloe moved onto another photo. "That was a photo taken from not that long ago – a whole Russian platoon was just wiped out" she explained as the photo came up, showing the remains of the platoon vehicles. "And this was taken a few miles north" the analyst added, showing another photo. Jack recognized this one as well, as it was the army base where he'd stolen the helicopter en-route to Kiev. It had been raised to the ground and was completely unrecognisable from when he had been there. "I don't understand.." he said. "Have a read of this, it came with the photos.." Chloe insisted, bringing up both the transaction and the note attachment. As he read it, Jack's eyes rose in complete shock. Someone had eliminated the whole of Eastern Cell, just like someone had had Hermann killed to possibly cover something up. It couldn't just be a coincidence. "This Jordan.. who is she?" he asked. "Jordan Walkman" Chloe explained, bringing up the profile she'd bought up of her. "President of a defence contractor situated in DC, called Guardstrom. They specialize in weapons for the United States Army" she added. "Ok, aside from this transaction, is there anything that might connect Walkman to any of this?" Jack asked.

He was slightly disappointed to see Chloe shake her head. "If there is something, it's well-hidden. Everything I've found paints her as an upstanding American citizen" she replied. Jack nodded. "This is great, Chloe, but I'm confused – why haven't you gone to the President? This has some legs" he insisted. "I didn't want to do anything until you'd checked the photos. For all I know, this could have been something completely unrelated" she explained. "Well, I've checked it now. It stands up. Let's go see Heller" the former agent pushed. Chloe nodded, picking up the laptop and following Jack out of the room.

00:30:02AM

–

00:33:16AM

 **United States Capitol**

The truck had parked at the back of the building, with the cargo door facing a small cargo entry point. Montanner pressed down on a green button on a control panel fixed to the back of the truck and the door started to move upwards – Belcheck stepped out onto the concrete platform that led into the building, followed by four other men pushing the crate trolley and then the rest of the group, including Montanner and the driver. Upon entering the building, the group were met by a smartly-dressed man who looked like he had been waiting for them for quite some time. "AirCool Conditioning?" he asked hopefully. Montanner stepped forward, nodding. "Sorry we took so long, Mr..." he said, holding his hand out to shake. "Fletcher. Marcus Fletcher, head of security" the man replied, accepting the hand-shake offer as he wiped sweat from his forehead. "Don't worry, I'm just glad you're here. The aircon packed in hours ago and no-one has got back to us. Wouldn't have minded too much had it not been for the fact there's a Congressional session in progress" he said, the last bit rather quietly. "Ah, that's alright. We're here now; just take us to where we need to go and we'll be done in no time" Montanner assured, a fake smile plastered on his face. "Of course.. follow me" Fletcher said, turning on his heel and walking off down the corridor. Watching the rest of the group walk by, Belcheck followed behind quietly – he had as long as it took for the group to install the VX gas and explosives into the air-conditioning to come up with a way of warning Jack and the White House.

Worst case-scenario, he'd have to go up against 12 other men on his own. Even for a man of his reputation and character, that was a hell of a long-shot.

Fletcher led the group into the National Statuary Hall within the Capitol building, the walls lit with lamps. A security guard moved to stop them, but Fletcher stopped him. "It's ok, they're with me" he insisted. The guard walked back and nodded towards the group. As Belcheck walked behind them, he took the chance to look around. It was as he had expected it to be, with statues lining the walls – but what he was looking for was anything that might help him alert the White House. A fire-alarm, a telephone, anything. But there was nothing. Fletcher led the group past the Hall and then to a long hallway with two possible routes, one marked by columns going down it and the other marked by a sign saying "Maintenance Room". "Ok, down there is where you need to go – you'll find the air-conditioning at the end of the hall" the head of security explained, pointing to the latter hall. "Right, thank you" Montanner said before leading the group down the hall. Only Belcheck stood still, looking towards at the hallway with the columns.

"Sir?" the Serb snapped out of his thoughts and saw Fletcher looking at him. "There something else?" he asked. "Oh, no. Sorry" Belcheck said, before starting to move off. But then he stopped. "Actually.. that hallway, where does it lead?" he asked, whilst pointing towards the other hallway. "Down there? Well that's the Hall of Columns and that leads to the wing for the House of Representatives. Why do you ask?" the head of security asked, curious. "In case we need to get out fast" the Serb explained before walking off. Fletcher was both bewildered and suspicious at the question as well as such an answer, but then again the man did raise a point as considering the events of the day, they might have to get out fast and it helped to know where they were going. Dismissing the thought, the head of security headed back towards the Statuary Hall.

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

Monitoring the security footage was Evans, who rose an eyebrow at the exchange between the new addition to the group known only as Belcheck and the Capitol head of security. As it was, he'd only allowed the Serb into the group so they could use him as a scapegoat but now something didn't seem right about him. But he was pleased to see that the group had made it towards the room containing all the air-conditioning – in his eyes, nothing could go wrong now. He quickly reached for his phone and dialled a number. "Yeah. Can you come downstairs please? I have a job for you" he asked.

Elsewhere, construction was beginning on the weapon known only as "Project Connaughton", with the left-hand wing being slowly lowered down towards the main body of the aircraft itself. Watching from within the lab was Dr Hampson and Walkman. "As per instructions, the wings have been fitted with the necessary weapons – the left-hand wing is fitted with 10 machine guns, five anti-aircraft missiles, five long-range missiles and 10 bazookas. As for the right-hand wing, it has rocket artillery, two Autocannons, 10 anti-tank missiles and three howitzers" Hampson explained, Walkman nodding throughout. "And the main body?" she asked. "The main body is equipped with four M242 Autocannons, two at the front and two at the back, an automatic grenade launcher and one M134 Minigun" the doctor continued. Walkman smiled at him. "You've done well" she complimented. "Well, let's wait until the wings are in place and the A.I is installed" Hampson insisted. "Speaking of the A.I, how goes installation?" the President asked. "Eh, slow but that's expected really. The installers know it's working and it's just a case of making sure the weapons in the main body don't go off unexpectedly really" he explained. Walkman nodded, understanding of the doctor's reasoning for going slowly; whilst she wasn't too keen on the waiting, she didn't want any of them to be blown up.

–

00:41:23AM

 **White House**

There was a knock on the door to the Oval Office. "Come in!" Heller yelled and the door opened to reveal Jack and Chloe. "Sir, I think we've found something" Chloe said, still holding onto her laptop. This attracted Baylis's attention and Heller got up from his seat. "What have you got?" Baylis was first to ask. "If I'm right, it could be the person from DC involved in the attacks" the former analyst said as she sat the laptop down on the table. Heller and Baylis walked up to behind the sofa. "I wasn't able to find much, until I found myself continually being linked back to the same woman. Even then, I found nothing until I started looking at bank accounts" she added, before bringing up Walkman's account. "Until about 25 minutes ago, this account was empty. But then this transaction came up". Heller and Baylis studied the transaction, the latter raising an eyebrow at such a large number. "Ok, but I'm not quite sure what you're getting at" Heller replied. "I'm getting at this" Chloe explained, pulling up the note which the two men studied. Baylis's eyebrows rose in shock. "How can you be so sure that the men perusing Jack are in-fact dead? This could well be a bluff!" he exclaimed.

"Because here's the evidence" Jack countered as Chloe pulled up the photos. "Chloe had me look through photos that were attached to the note and see if I recognized anyone. And I do – the bodies in this photo belong to the Russian army platoon I had to infiltrate to get to Kiev and rest assured, I did not kill any of them" he added, his tone of voice becoming rather firm by the end. "We never said you did, Jack – do we have anyone tying them to this?" Heller asked. "We do; I keep being drawn back towards this woman" Chloe said as she bought up a profile of Walkman. "Her name is Jordan Walkman. She's the current President of the defence contractor Guardstrom" she added. "The contractor working for the United States Army?" Baylis said in surprise. "One of the contractors – but yes, the one situated in DC" Chloe supported. "This Walkman, could she be tied to it on a personal level or could she be involved without realizing?" Jack asked.

"I don't know – everything I've looked at is painting Walkman as an upstanding member of the DC community. It could be she doesn't know anything but then again, why wire such a large sum of money AND evidence to someone who seemingly knows nothing?" Chloe pointed out. Jack turned away, deep in thought. "We need more evidence" he said, thinking back to when he'd dealt with Starkwood so many years ago and the trouble they had trying to get evidence against them. "Like what, Jack?" Heller asked. "Something, ANYthing that can make this case stronger – the evidence we have is good and it does indicate there is someone going up against Benediktov by killing his forces, but they'll laugh us out the room if we try to confront them with it" the former CTU agent insisted. "Well, like what?" the NSA reasoned. "Guardstrom's a defence contractor, right? In the past, defence contractors have made something or been involved with something that threatens the safety of the country – the over-ride defence with Habib Marwan and the prion variant with General Juma. We need evidence that Guardstrom could be planning something similar" Jack insisted. "I can try looking around, Jack. See if I can access their mainframe or something similar" Chloe offered.

"Do that – look for ANYTHING you think classes as a threat to the country. A weaponized virus, a super-weapon, anything!" Baylis insisted, taking the words out of Jack's mouth. Chloe nodded and moved to leave. "There anything else?" she asked. "I think that's it.. thank you, Audrey" Heller said. Everyone else in the room stopped and stared. "Sir... this is Chloe. O'Brian" Baylis pointed out and the President froze. He turned back around, shocked and embarrassed. The dementia. "I am so sorry.." he said slowly to Chloe. The look on the former analyst's eyes indicated sympathy for him. "Get out of here, Chloe. Start looking" Baylis ordered and she quickly left. Jack came over to the President. "We're here, as always – this was a blip, sir. Don't think anymore of it" he insisted and Heller, after some while, gave a light smile. "Thank you, Jack" he said simply before turning. "Jack.. you better get back to stand-by" the NSA insisted, knowing the President needed some partial alone time. The former CTU agent nodded and turned to leave.

–

 **American Forest**

Henderson was dashing through the forest as fast, on foot – the first ten minutes through the woodland, he had not encountered any resistance. But then about eight minutes ago, he came across a checkpoint on the main road, with lookouts stationed pretty much everywhere. He was able to abandon the car successfully and make it past the checkpoint without anyone spotting him and he'd been running ever-since. He had no real clue how far he was from DC when he was driving and he knew that even if he kept on running, he'd only just make it to DC and who knows if the police there had been tipped off to the fact he'd been on the run?

As soon as he came to an area of forest that was well-hidden from the road, he slowed down. He was completely out of breath from running non-stop. But he'd done pretty well to avoid the police, that was something. At that point, his phone rang and he activated his earpiece. "Go ahead" he spoke into it. " _I'm clear of the checkpoints – going through the forest as you said_ " Cannavale explained. "Any indication you're _being followed?_ " Henderson asked. "No. I've been extra careful, even with carrying a lot of weight" he replied, looking towards a still unconscious Kim who was over his shoulder like a fireman's lift. "That's good – any ideas on an ETA into DC?" Henderson pushed. " _Yes actually – speed_ I'm going and if the police don't catch on that I'm here, I should be in DC just after 2am. Whereabouts _are you?_ " Cannavale inquired, stopping and resting his body against a tree, making sure Kim didn't hit it. "I don't know. Frankly, I'm more interested in evading the police _than anything_ ".

"Give me a sec, I'm gonna try and ping your location" the tall man decided and he held his phone out, taping in the details of Henderson's phone into a network-style application. After a few seconds, the app zoomed out and a white circle started to ping, almost in the northwest side of the screen. "You still there?" he asked, speaking back into the phone. " _Yeah_ " Henderson said gruffly, though more out of annoyance at what he considered to be a silly question. "In terms of walking distance, _you're still about 90 minutes out so you'll reach DC around the same time as me_ " Cannavale revealed. "Right, thanks. I'll see you there – contact me every 30 minutes" Henderson ordered. "Got it – if you don't hear from me, assume the worst. But _get yourself to DC_ " came the reply. "Will do". Henderson hung up and continued walking. He could just run all the way and save time, but by walking slow, he wouldn't attract the attention of anyone on the roads.

Back with Cannavale, he continued walking through the trees and over the branches – unaware that Kim was slowly but surely stirring.

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

A knock on the door took Evans by surprise – he had been following the security footage without any distractions and he'd forgotten he had sent someone to do a task for him. "Sir?" a female voice called. "Come in!" the Presidential aide ordered, having regained his bearings. A bespectacled-woman walked in, clutching several sheets of paper stapled together. "I did the research as you asked, sir.." she said. "And?" Evans asked. "You were right. Something is up. I have a contact in the American Embassy and he pulled these photos for me. All of them were taken from the last two days in London!" she explained, handing him the photos. Evans scanned through them and stopped when he saw a lone figure in one, wearing a leather jacket. "That's your Belcheck" the woman revealed. The presidential aide simply rose an unbelieving eyebrow. "So.. he went to London and then got a flight to America. Don't think that would be enough to convince anyone" he reasoned. "Look at the photos – third one after this one" she insisted. Evans looked back down at the document and went through the photos... and stopped, more from shock, when he got to the third photo after the one he'd previously looked at. "That was taken yesterday, just before 11am British time, in Hayes" the woman explained as Evans found himself staring at Belcheck... and Jack Bauer, both standing outside of a car. "And here's something else – Bauer is in DC!"

The presidential aide could not believe what he was hearing. "Ever since they shot him down, the A.F.E have done everything they can to stop him from reaching the country but clearly they failed. And if he's here, then so is Belcheck. Rest assured, he's not here to help you, he's here to stop you" the woman revealed. Evans made it to his feet, eyes still fixated on the photo. He pulled his phone from his pocket without looking and dialled a number. "Get the President down here NOW!" he ordered. The woman nodded, rushing out of the room "Come on, come on.." he muttered as the phone continued to ring.

00:48:56AM

–

00:53:02AM

 **United States Capitol**

Belcheck watched as a man called Stefanslav drilled a large hole into the wall directly above one of the three fans; as with the rest of the fans, the grilles protecting them had been removed and then holes drilled into the wall. Long pipes were fixed into the holes and secured in place by screws and then each of the canisters of VX gas were positioned on the pipes, with immediate access to each of the fans. The job was nearly done and the Serb still had no way of warning the White House; if anything, he had less than 10 minutes or however long it took for the rest of the group to wire and activate the canisters. As he watched the last canister be placed surely onto the pipe, he saw two other men working on what looked like a detonator. Must be for the explosives, he thought to himself.

Montanner moved into the middle of the room. "Ok, everyone – we're just-about done. Everyone except for myself, Pederson, Belcheck, Barislov and Ludogan, load up the trolley and head back to the truck. We'll finish up here" he declared. Belcheck watched as the remaining eight men either left the room straight around or hung around to help with taking the trolley out. As soon as the door closed, Montanner looked around. "Everything's in place. The detonator is ready to go. However, I need each of you to do a few last-minute checks. Belcheck, check the connector ports for the fans and make sure they're working" he ordered the Serb, who promptly nodded and headed to the side of the first fan they'd worked on, where all the cables were situated. He could hear Montanner dishing out another order until a phone suddenly started ringing. At first, Belcheck just dismissed it until he heard something interesting. "It's our White House contact – I'll be right back, stay off the line" he heard Montanner said. White House contact? Was there a leak in the White House itself that Heller had no idea of? He had to hear what was said and the fact he'd ordered the other men to "stay off the line" meant there was something to hide. He looked behind him and saw a headset lying on the desk – there was a tag on it that said "Property of Joel M.". It was Montanner's, that was for sure.

He quickly looked around to make sure no-one was watching and snatched the headset, before moving out of sight. He put the headset on and put the hat over it to avoid attracting attention before getting to work. At first, there was nothing until he could hear what was definitely Montanner's voice. " _Hello, Mr McKaye_ ". The Serb froze; McKaye as in ANDREW McKaye? The British MI-5 agent who had been helping them? It couldn't be. " _How goes things, Montanner?_ " the voice replied and Belcheck's jaw fell. There was no doubt about it – it was Andrew McKaye. " _Things are well – we've_ made it into the Capitol Building and the VX gas is in position" Montanner explained. " _I see.._ I take it security didn't ask too many questions of you?" the MI-5 agent asked. " _Nope, nothing of the sort –_ they were just happy to see us and as it is, they have no idea what we've done" came the reply. " _Good – I was hoping you didn't screw it up._ Took a lot of power to get you inside the building and without giving myself away" McKaye pointed out. " _Yes, but really, I had faith in you, Andrew._ After all, you've managed to leak _information about the President to the hijackers and managed to pin it all on the Pentagon_ " Montanner countered.

Belcheck was stunned – Heller and Baylis had told him of a potential mole in the Pentagon leaking information to the A.F.E, including about Heller's dementia which was something that very few people know. But all along, it was McKaye. " _Anyhow, we've nearly finished up – I've sent eight of the men back to the truck and the other four men are with me_ " Montanner explained. "Hold on, hold on, back up... I thought there were only twelve of you? _Where did this thirteenth person come from?_ " McKaye asked. "Oh, we picked him up not too far from the Capitol Building – he's a Serbian national and according to base, seems to have anti-American ties. If anything, we _can make him a scapegoat for the whole attack_ " came the reply.

Belcheck's heart started racing – he would have to act fast. McKaye, meanwhile, was reeling in shock – there was only one Serb he knew. "Give me a minute. President's calling" he lied, as he went into the Oval Office. Heller was looking out of the window, unaware of his presence. But Baylis did see him and he clocked the agent's worry. "Everything okay, Andrew?" he asked. "No... where did Belcheck?" McKaye asked, covering his phone. Baylis frowned at him. "You should know, he went to follow up on a lead in the vicinity.. " the NSA started. "..yeah, yeah, of the White House. Has he checked in at all?" the Brit pushed. "No, concerningly. We've heard nothing. He could be anywhere; underground, the Memorial Cemetery..." Baylis suggested. "...or the Capitol building" McKaye said quietly. "Yeah, or there. Until he checks in, we've no clue" came the reply.

"Right, thanks, sir" the MI-5 agent said before leaving. As he shut the door behind him, he spoke into the phone. "This Serb.. _what's his name?_ " he asked Montanner. "Er, Belcheck.. why?" Montanner asked and now that Belcheck himself could hear them again, his blood ran cold. " _I've just found out – Belcheck is not who you think he is. HE'S WORKING FOR THE PRESIDENT!_ " McKaye almost yelled. Now it was Montanner's time to frown. "But he said it himself, he hates America so why.." he started before he was interrupted. " _Ok, he doesn't work FULLY for the_ President, but he's working with Jack Bauer. And Bauer is working for the President!" the British agent insisted. Belcheck's breathing started to become more laboured as he took in what he was hearing. He reached for his gun, knowing what was about to go down. "Bauer's in the country? I thought the A.F.E were taking care of him!" Montanner hissed. " _So was I.. but somehow, he just_ keep eluding whatever Benediktov threw at him – now he's here, everything's so much harder! But look, believe me, Belcheck is double-crossing you! _You have to kill him now!_ " McKaye ordered before hanging up.

Belcheck slowly took off his hat and removed the headset, before picking up his gun and then a pipe lying next to him, underneath all the cables. Montanner walked slowly back into the room, his face white and grim. "Sir? Everything ok?" Pederson asked. At first, Montanner said nothing. But before he could say anything, a silenced gunshot was heard and one of the un-named men fell to the floor, dead. Montanner put his finger to his lips and indicated for the others to head to the far side of the room. The three-man group moved slowly forward and no sooner did Pederson move past the last panel, Belcheck slammed into him. The group were taken by surprise as the Serb forced them back.

Meanwhile, within the House Chamber, a session seemed to be coming to an end – whilst the Chamber could take up to 450 people at once time, only 20 people were in the chamber itself and all taking part in a video conference with what looked like the United Nations. " _I appreciate your concerns, Mr Ambassador and they do seem well-founded, but the fact is the United Nations is not equipped to fight this threat!_ " a man spoke via the large video screen. "Even so, Mr Secretary-General, that is no reason! We've checked it out – the countries of the people involved are all within the United Nations. Why are you trying to duck out of this?" the man, named as an Ambassador, argued. " _I'm sorry, we've checked everything against the articles – there is nothing the U.N can do. Have you tried speaking with the President?_ " the Secretary-General suggested. "Have you spoken with the President, sir? If you have, you can see for a fact that the President of the United States is not fit to run office! That's why I'm talking to you!" the Ambassador snapped.

" _I wish I could help you, but I can't. I'm sorry, Mr Ambassador.._ " the Secretary-General said, regret in his voice, as he ended the video chat. The Ambassador looked crestfallen before slamming the laptop off the desk. "GOD DAMN IT!" he yelled, whilst everyone else in the room from press workers to security guards winced at him, mainly with sympathy. A woman walked up to him. "It's ok, Sam. We'll find a way through this" she said, putting an arm on his shoulder. "I hope so" Sam sighed.

Belcheck managed to wrestle Pederson off of him and threw him onto a dazed Montanner, before getting to his feet and diving for the door – however, the third man, who was identified by a tag on his jacket as Ludogan grabbed him by the legs and hauled him down. The Serb pulled his legs free and slammed them into Ludogan, getting him into a headlock. After what seemed like minutes but was actually mere seconds, the Serb successfully snapped his neck; spotting Pederson and Montanner coming to their senses, he grabbed both the silenced pistol he had used and a machine gun that had fallen from one of the crates left behind. He flew out of the door, unaware that Pederson had thrown a grenade after him – the grenade flew through the gap in the door and doorway and landed against the wall, all unbeknown to the Serb. The grenade exploded instantly, with the shock-waves sending Belcheck flying and the sound of the explosion itself ricocheting around the building, attracting the attention of the rest of Montanner's group, as well as the security guards and the people in the House Chamber. Once again scrambling to his feet, Belcheck ran down the hallway and spotted Fletcher running towards him. "What the hell's going on?" he demanded. The Serb was about to answer until he saw the door fly open from the corner of his eye. "GET DOWN!" he cried and threw himself to the floor just as Pederson emerged, torso-first and with a machine gun in hand. No sooner was he out the door than he started firing – in throwing himself to the floor, Belcheck had actually slid out of Pederson's immediate sight.

Fletcher, however, wasn't as lucky. He was mowed down by the onslaught of bullets and fell to the floor. As Belcheck picked himself up yet again, he held yells coming from behind him and turned his head to see the rest of Montanner's group coming his way. "STOP HIM! HE'S DOUBLE-CROSSED US!" he could hear Pederson scream and he ran down the Hall of Columns. He just-about made it between two of the columns whilst the men began shooting at him.

In the House Chamber, a security guard scrambled down to the front podium. "Sir, we're under attack! We have to go!" he yelled and Sam didn't need to be told twice as he raced up towards the group who were already standing. "Leave anything" another guard ordered, as he pulled his gun from his holster in preparation for what might come. Belcheck, meanwhile, was almost paralyzed to move, with bullets coming either straight past him or straight at the pillar he was hiding behind. Pederson was close to joining the group firing at the Serb until they were met by gun-shots from behind, as the building's security forces all ran into action. Pederson retreated behind the corner of the way whilst five of the eight-strong group engaged in a gun-fight with the guards. Two were shot from behind whilst another threw himself to the floor, throwing a grenade towards the columns. Thankfully, however, it rolled to the left too soon and then exploded, taking several columns with it. Using the dust cloud to his advantage, Belcheck ran down the hall as fast as he could. The gun-man who threw the grenade tried to get to his feet only for one of the other gun-man to fall on him, dead.

Rounding another corner, the Serb came across a fire-alarm and after much consideration, he smashed his elbow into it. The alarm rang through the building and it was then he spied a door at the end of the new hallway. And it was opening. Belcheck charged forward, still clutching both guns - he saw a security guard trying to usher a group of people out and he stopped. As soon as the guard saw him, he stopped as well. Before he realized what he was doing, he pointed the machine gun at him. "Get everyone inside!" he barked. The old guard started breathing heavily. "Ok, son – just put the gun down. Let everyone else go, just take me.." he urged only for the Serb to point the gun upwards and fire. "I SAID GET INSIDE!" he roared. The guard immediately did as he was ordered, ushering the group back into the House Chamber. Belcheck followed, still holding the guns as he walked in. He turned to the older guard. "Lock the door" he ordered sternly and the guard did as he was told. "Is that the only open door?" he then asked. "No.. all the others are locked" the guard assured. "Right, get down there. And don't make a sound" the Serb demanded. As the guard made his way back to the lower floor, Belcheck stopped. It slowly dawned on him what he had done.

In a nutshell, he had just kick-started a gun-fight at one of the most secure buildings in the country and had taken hostages within the House Chamber. Throw in his Serbian nationality as well as his anti-American beliefs and you'd forgive the security forces of the city for thinking it to be part of the terrorist plans. He suddenly felt a bulge in his pocket – in it was the detonator for the explosives attached to the canisters. Montanner had the canisters but Belcheck had the only way of detonating them. In a way, he'd stopped the terrorists from committing their initial plan. But now, he had to contact Jack or the White House and warn them not just of what had happened but that there was a mole amongst them.

Back in the maintenance room, Pederson flew inside and would have slammed the door had one of the other gun-men smashed into it. "Come on, let me in!" he cried, fighting for control of the door. Finally, Pederson relented and pulled the door open.. but not before the man cried out in pain as he fell inside. He had been shot in the leg. Pederson closed the door and held it in place whilst Montanner slammed a large table into it, making sure it was securely underneath the door handle so that it couldn't be opened. As he rushed to get more stuff to put on the table, the injured gun-man saw what looked like an attempt from outside to push down on the door handle. "Open the door NOW!" he heard an angry voice cry and it didn't sound like any of his fellow men. Montanner lifted up the open crate and forced it onto the table before walking backwards. "I think we'll be alright! The canisters are still in place and we've got the detonat..." Pederson started before stopping. "Where's the detonator?" he said slowly. Montanner looked around for it, unsure as to where it could have possibly gone, before he stopped. "Oh no... Belcheck must have taken it!" he said quietly. Silence fell. "So we've got the canisters right where we need them, but..." the injured gun-man said. "..the detonator is in the hands of the man who betrayed us. Which means he could set them off at any moment and we'd be in it's direct line of fire" Pederson finished.

In short, the three gun-men were trapped with the very weapon they wanted to be as far away from as possible. Their only hope lied with what the White House and the President, the very people they were trying to attack, decided to do when they heard the news.

–

01:00:00AM

* * *

Bet you didn't see that coming - not just McKaye being the White House leak but Belcheck making such a risky choice in trying to alert the White House. I will start on Chapter 15 as soon as possible.

Also, I do intend to follow through with the massive storm in the later chapters; I found it strange that throughout the show's run, there was never once any rain, sleet, snow, hail or any form of weather like that. It was always sunny or cloudy (or just plain dark at night)!

Anyhow, please rate and review!


	15. 15: 1am - 2am (WET)

Hello, hello! Sorry this has taken so long - but as you can see, it's the biggest chapter I've done so far and I've had to write important elements for the entirety of the rest of the story so that it makes sense in the long term. Please forgive me for taking so long and keep reviewing and rating! In this chapter, certain things happen

* * *

15: 1am – 2am (W.E.T):

 **The following takes place between 1am and 2am, Washington Eastern Time:**

–

01:00:01AM

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

"Come on, pick up!" Evans muttered as he paced up and down, having almost forgotten about the security footage. " _Phone network system overloaded – please try again_ " an automated voice spoke. The presidential aide threw his phone onto the desk and next to the laptop in frustration, just as Walkman came in. "Everything ok?" she asked, noting his anger. "No.. we've hit a snag with the group attacking the Capitol Building" Evans replied. "But you said they got into the building without a problem?" the female President reasoned, unsure as to what her aide was getting at. "They did, but but that was before I found out that I'd almost sabotaged the operation to begin with! God, how could I have been so stupid?" he insisted and had Walkman not stepped in when she did, he would have probably thrown the desk onto its side.

"Christian.. calm down. Start from the beginning – what do you mean you nearly sabotaged the operation?" she said sternly, though with a hint of confusion mixed in. "Whilst we were finalizing the cover story, Montanner contacted me and said that he'd found an Eastern European national spying on them. It seems this person wanted to help us destroy the Capitol Building and I let him in – you know, I thought we could use him as a scapegoat and he did seem to check out" Evans started to explain whilst Walkman crossed her arms as she listened. "Ok, but I still don't see how that has made you sabotage the operation. Did you miss something?" she asked. "Oh yes, I certainly did – even when I let this person in, I had some doubts and I had someone look him up. Turns out my doubts were justified. Whoever this guy is, he's working with the President" Evans finally revealed. Walkman's eyes rose in both shock and surprise. "Hang on, back up Chris. You say this guy is East European and now you're saying he's working with the President?" she said, pointing out the errors in his theory. "Ok, perhaps not the President directly... but he's working with Jack Bauer at least and Bauer is working with Heller!" the aide insisted. Now Walkman frowned. She turned away.

"So Benediktov failed to even keep Bauer from reaching the city.. how disappointing" she said. "That's right – and believe me, Bauer is working with this person. They were photographed together in London which must mean prior business" Evans added. "Well, considering what Bauer has gone through in his life, I do find it difficult to believe he's working for the President so willingly.. however, I do think you're right on this matter, Chris. And don't worry, you couldn't have known this guy's true loyalties and even if you did, it would have set us back. Have you alerted Montanner?" she assured him before asking. "I can't.. the phone network is down! I can't get through. Has anything happened in the city?" Evans replied and then asked. Walkman rose an eyebrow. "Not that I know of.." she started only to be interrupted by the door clattering open and the same woman that Evans had tasked with finding information on the man known as "Belcheck" ran it, distressed. "Mr Evans! Madame President.." she started before spotting Walkman was also in the room and nodded. "What's wrong, Rhodes?" Evans asked; normally, he'd tear a strip off anyone who came into the same room as him without knocking but he could tell the young woman was in distress.

"I was monitoring the intelligence circuits for anything new and an alert has gone out – there's been a large fire-fight at the Capitol Building!" Rhodes explained and Walkman shared a stunned look with Evans. "You're sure about that?" the aide pushed. "Yes! Apparently, not only did two grenades go off but that there was a large gun-fight between security and a group called "AirCool Conditioning"!" the young woman said. Evans put his hand against his head – this was not what they had planned for. "What does the security footage say?" Walkman asked. Of course, her aide had not checked the footage for 10 minutes as he had been trying to contact Montanner about the Serbian mole in their midst. "Let's see!" he said as he moved to the laptop and refreshed the feed. Within seconds, four new lots of footage came up, but what attracted the attention of the three people was the pile of dead bodies near the hallway with the maintenance room. "That's our men.." Evans said, noticing at least two of them wearing something with the logo "AirCool Conditioning". "Search the feed, some of them could have survived" Rhodes suggested. Evans typed rapidly on the laptop and the feed switched through about three locations before stopping on the maintenance room. "There's our guys! That's Montanner!" he said, pointing at the three figures resting against a maintenance panel. "At least some of them are ok. Keep trying the phone, Evans. We need to know what they know" Walkman ordered before leaving.

"Rhodes, come with me" she added without looking. The young woman looked towards Evans. "Go with her, I'll be fine" he said. As Rhodes left, the aide picked up the phone and started dialling again. On the feed, a group of security guards were seen meeting not far from the shoot-out site.

–

 **United States Capitol**

"As far as we're aware, the three survivors are all trapped in the maintenance room. Police is on their way and then we'll find out whether they're linked with the attacks yesterday" a senior security guard said to the group seen on the security feed – from the corner of his ear, he could see a younger guard running up towards him with what looked like worry on his face. "Sir!" he called.

"Give me a few minutes" he told the group, each of whom nodded and walked off. He turned back to the younger guard. "What's wrong, Hammond?" he asked. "I was checking to see who made it out alright – and I can't find the Ambassador to the United Nations! I think he was still in the House Chamber when everything kicked off" Hammond said, almost spluttering and full of worry. "Have you checked the House?" the older guard asked, now just as concerned. "No. I was on my way there but I had to tell you in person" replied the younger security guard. The older one, identified as a D. Lynch, looked down at Hammond – he was the youngest guard on duty, having only started about five months ago. "Ok, you let me know if anything's a-miss the second you find out!" Lynch ordered. "Sir!" Hammond nodded before running off down towards the Hall of Columns.

Within the House Chamber, meanwhile, Belcheck had picked up a small waste bin and was holding it out around the hostages. "I want phones, radios, guns, all in here now!" he barked and the group quickly did as they were asked. The Serb was trying to figure out what to do as he knew that the powers that be in the building would catch on and think the hostage-taking was a part of the terror attacks. He needed to convince people he was not doing anything like that. As soon as the last phone was put in the bin, he placed it on the desk. "I want all of you sitting down in a group. Now" he said sternly. Several people looked at each other before doing as he said, with everyone else slowly following. Belcheck scanned the group – there were 13 men and seven them were the two security guards, a rather well-dressed man and several members of what looked like a press corp. His eyes landed on a rather young girl looking rather shaken – she looked like she was with the press corp and couldn't have been any older than 20. He decided to speak to the group, put them at ease. "I have no intention to hurt any of you. I didn't want to take you hostage, any of you, but under the circumstances.." he started only to be interrupted by a knock on the doors.

"Hello! Mr Ambassador, are you in there?" a male voice yelled. The Serb stopped, eyebrow raised. Mr Ambassador? He got up from the desk, aware of the voice yelling through the door. "Who is the Ambassador?" he asked. Finally, the man in question rose his hand, despite the woman next to him trying to pull it down. "You? On your feet" Belcheck ordered and the man got up. "Get in front of me" he ordered, waving the smaller gun in his face. "Alright, alright.." the Ambassador agreed as he walked out of the seated group. "Sam, don't..." the woman sitting next to him tried to reason only for to found himself looking down the barrel of the handgun. The Serb grabbed the Ambassador by the tie and positioned him in front of himself, before pushing him up the stairs. "You're gonna tell him that you're alright and no-one will be hurt as long as you don't try and break in" he told the Ambassador quietly. "Alright, yeah. Whatever you say, mate.." the man, again referred to as Sam, muttered. The two stopped outside the door. "Is that you, Hammond?" Sam asked. The shouting stopped. "Mr Ambassador! Are you ok?" the voice replied – it was in fact Hammond. "I'm fine and so is everyone else. What's going on out there?" the Ambassador asked again. "There's been a massive fire-fight near the Hall of Columns. need to get you out of here now – unlock the doors!" the young guard ordered.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Hammond" Sam said calmly, trying not to wile up the man holding the gun. "Why? Who says?" Hammond asked. "Says the man currently holding me and everyone else in the room at gun-point" Sam had initially decided against saying anything like that but he guessed that the gun-man would want people to know what the situation was as soon as possible. "WHAT?! Is he there with you, this gun-man?!" the reply came almost instantly and very loudly. "Yes, but he doesn't wish to talk with you – I think he'll contact you when he's ready. In the mean-time, no-one will be hurt as long as you don't try to break in" the Ambassador said, repeating the Serb's words. "Alright, alright, that's fine. I won't try anything stupid. I'll be right back" Hammond said, slowly backing away from the door before running. Belcheck grabbed the back of the Ambassador's jacket and began pushing him back down the stairs. "You did good, Mr Ambassador" he said quietly before pushing him towards the group and walking back to the main desk. He needed to contact Jack but then he remembered what he heard about McKaye being the mole; for all he knew, the MI-5 agent could have tapped Jack's phone and would be listening in. He needed to speak with him via a secure line but he had no clue on how to set up one.

He looked back towards the group. "Who here knows about secure phone lines?" he asked. Silence. "Someone? Anyone?" he asked again. A lone man, possibly part of the press corp, rose his hand. Belcheck fished his hand into the bin and pulled it one of the phones, throwing it to the man. "Set that up on a secure network that can't be tapped" he ordered. The man caught it, but quickly looked behind him. "My laptop's in the seats. I'll need it" he said. "Very well, pick it up and take a seat at the desk. And don't try any tricks" the Serb warned. The man said nothing as he got up and made his way to the seats.

–

01:07:41AM

 **White House**

"... _from what we can attain, it seems that the fire-fight started when a group of men claiming to be from a company called "AirCool Conditioning" opened fire on one of their own members, the reasons as to why being unknown. The resulting action attracted the attention.._ " a female news reporter said, as Baylis watched her on the TV. "Why is this the first I'm hearing of it? I'm the President of the United States and here is something happening almost on my doorstep yet the news channels are hearing about it before I do?" he heard Heller yell into a phone. Apparently, despite efforts by the police department to tell the White House of the fire-fight straight after it had happened, all of the news channels had somehow managed to found out before-hand. "Look, for the last time, it is really simple – I want to be kept in the loop! Anything new that emerges, I want to be told as soon as it emerges. Thank you!" Heller yelled again before coming back into the room. "Why can't they keep a lock under this thing, Brian? Is it really that hard for me to be informed before the media?" he asked. "Well in fairness, sir, they don't think they did it intentionally. And besides, they can't just try and smother the media at free-will" the NSA reasoned.

"Well, that may be true but it's still not right, is it?" the President said. Baylis was about to respond when he heard the door flying open. "Mr President!" Agent Polston had run in, a look of horror on his face. "What's wrong?" Heller asked. "I've just heard from the secondary head of security at the Capitol building – someone has taken hostages in the House Chamber!" the Secret Service agent spluttered. Baylis shared a look of stunned silence with both Heller and Polston, none of them had been expecting this. "Who's taken hostages?" Heller said. "I don't know, the guard I spoke with said that this person would only talk to us when he was ready to" Polston insisted. Silence fell again as the news reporter spoke up again on the TV. " _I'm sorry to interrupt you like that, Simon, but I'm starting to get unconfirmed reports that someone has taken hostages within the Capitol building. As I say, these reports are unconfirmed but if they turn out to be true, then it's pretty likely that the people behind both this and the fire-fight could have been involved in the recent attacks on the Presidency in London.._ " the reporter said. Heller turned off the TV and turned towards Baylis – at least the media hadn't been told of what happened to the Vice-President. "Get Jack up here now" he ordered. "Sir" the NSA nodded and headed out of the Office.

"Agent, prepare a team and get me the director of the FBI. Secret Service is gonna run point on this with FBI" he added, now speaking to Polston. "Yes, sir" the young man nodded. As he left, Heller walked towards the window – if he was at the right angle, he would be able to see the Capitol Building and he could. "What the hell's going on over there?" he asked himself quietly.

–

 **United States Capitol**

Apart from the hum of the machines as well as the fans, all was quiet in the maintenance room – the guard had given up in his attempts to get in and had gone for help, leaving Pederson and Montanner alone. One of their colleague who had made it in was ok, just injured from being shot in his race to the door. "What do you think is happening?" the injured gun-man asked quietly. Pederson looked up at him. "Well, best case-scenario; police have captured Belcheck and confiscated the detonator. Worst case... well, you don't want to.." he started before the sound of a phone ringing filled the room. "That's mine" Montanner said quietly as he stretched his arm out to reach it. He flipped it open and spoke into it. "This is Montanner" he said. " _Oh thank god! I was wondering if I'd ever get through_ " the relief in Evans' voice was evident. "Mr Evans, sir! What.. what's going in? Belcheck.." Montanner said quickly. " _Belcheck wasn't what you thought._ I just found out, he's a double-agent working against us!" the aide revealed. This made Montanner sit up, having not expected to hear that. " _Bare with me, I'm gonna try to find a way out of the building from where you are now._ Security are swarming the main hall and I'm sure police are on the wall" he heard.

"Mr Evans, sir.. I'm afraid it's harder than just finding another way out" Pederson suddenly interrupted. This made Evans stop and he stood up, turning away from the laptop. "What do you mean?" he asked. " _Right before the fire-fight,_ we got the canisters in place. They're currently in front of the fans and ready to blow" Montanner explained. " _So what's the problem?_ " the aide asked, confused. "We don't even have the detonator.. _Belcheck has it. And we have no idea where he is. He could detonate_ the canisters before we even reacted" Pederson spoke up. Evans' insides were turning. It was starting to sound like everyone that could go wrong was going wrong. "Bare with me a minute" he said and he headed back to the laptop to scroll through the various feeds. He was hoping Belcheck was still on-site. But no sooner had he started than he stopped. He very nearly dropped his phone – he was looking at the feed from the camera in the House Chamber. He could see Belcheck but he was walking in front of a group of hostages.. and one of them looked like Sam Forster, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. "Good news, Belcheck is still in the Capitol Building" he said, speaking back into the phone. "What's the bad news?" Montanner asked. He heard silence for about five seconds. " _He's taken hostages, including the country's United Nations Ambassador. Even if we wanted to, we can't send in an attack force._

You'll just have to pray and hope he doesn't do anything stupid" Evans admitted. Montanner grimaced in dismay. "There must be something! Send an anonymous tip to someone, tell them _about the Ambassador!_ " he insisted. "I can't. Anything I do could _expose our involvement. I'll keep looking, but until then,_ you're stuck where you are" the aide said before hanging up. Montanner slowly closed the phone. "Well?" the injured gun-man asked. At first, he couldn't find the words but then Montanner spoke. "The worst case-scenario, Semovic.. we're stuck in here with no immediate help and a possible ticking time-bomb, whilst the man with the detonator is holding the U.N Ambassador hostage and police are swarming outside. Because that's happening" he said as he threw the phone against the table blocking the door. Semovic and Pederson looked at each other and then at the VX canister-bombs. They were trapped, simple as.

01:12:24AM

–

01:16:51AM

 **White House**

Baylis walked back into the Oval Office, with Jack close behind him. "Jack. I trust Brian told you what we know already?" Heller said, after spotting the former CTU agent. "Yeah – but it doesn't make sense. How the hell could terrorists gain access to the Capitol building?" he asked, bewildered that such a thing even happened. "From what we've learnt, they were able to get in by posing as members of an air-conditioning company. The company did in-fact send 12 of their employees to the Capitol but then they found those same men all dead in the back of their van shortly before the fire-fight" Baylis explained. "Ok, anything on the House Chamber situation?" Jack asked. "Not much – don't know why, but we can't seem to access the CCTV to identify anyone who may be in there. And the gun-man seems to be keeping quiet as well" Heller explained, his face and voice grim. Jack was about to reply when Agent Polston ran in. "Mr President! I'm sorry, sir. You need to see this!" he cried as he turned the TV on. The screen came to life as the same newsreader came to view. "... _I repeat, we are receiving reports that one of the hostages in the Capitol Building is in fact Samuel Forster, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. At the moment, until.._ " the woman reported, which made Jack, Heller and Baylis pause in shock. They were not expecting that.

"How soon can you be at the Capitol Building, Jack?" Heller asked. The former CTU agent looked at him, surprised. "Sir?" he asked. "I want you in on this, Jack. The amount of times you've done things like this, it would be crazy to just sideline you" the President explained. "Well, in response to your question, sir.. I can be there in about 15 minutes by car" Jack said. "That's good – but you won't need the tunnel. I'm sending Secret Service over by the tunnels to the Capitol. In the meantime, I want you to go with Agent Masters to the briefing room.." he started but then saw the stare from Polston. "Masters? Mr President, I'm Polston.." the agent insisted. Heller stared at him, confused, until he realized. This wasn't actually him talking. "I... I'm sorry, Polston.." he said quietly. Baylis turned to Jack. "Just go with him, Jack. You need to be properly briefed and then I'll contact you when you need to go" he ordered. "Yes, sir" the former agent agreed, sensing the mood and quickly following Polston out of the Office. Heller just shook his head; how long could this go on?

–

 **Woodland Area**

A pair of dazed and confused-looking eyes slowly opened and then closed again, before reopening again – the eyes belonged to Kim Wesley, who immediately tried to get up from the branch-covered ground only to find herself tied up and gagged at the bottom of a tree. "Ah... you're finally awake" a male voice said and Kim looked up in shock to see a large, tall man looking down at her. "If I take your gag off, you promise not to scream?" he asked calmly. Taking note of what she could of the situation, Kim nodded and within several seconds, the tape covering her move was roughly pulled off. She eyed her kidnapper. "Who are you?" she asked finally. "That is not important" Cannavale said. "All you need to know, Kimberly... is that apparently your presence is worth something to my associate" he added. Kim looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean? I'm just a nobody; I don't mean anything to anyone" she lied; she had a feeling that there was a reason as to why she had been kidnapped to begin with.

The tall man simply eyed her. "You and I know full well, Ms Wesley, that you are NOT just a nobody" he said, scoffing. "If you were just a nobody, then my associate would never have asked for your abduction" he added, having turned away mid-sentence. Kim lightly scoffed and shook her head in bewilderment. "What's so special about me?" she asked. "Your father..." Cannavale said suddenly. This made Kim stop in surprise – but not wanting to show anything, she kept a neutral face. "My father.. surely you should know my dad is not in the country. Why not try looking elsewhere?" she asked, almost daring him to reply. Cannavale turned around, a smug smile on his face. She doesn't know then, he thought to himself. "On the contrary, Kimberly... your father IS IN the country. As a matter of fact, I have reason to believe he is in DC and you are going to help lure him out" he revealed. This hit Kim like a ton of bricks and her face was that of stunned silence. Her dad... was in the country? Didn't make any sense; he was a wanted man in America after all. "Anyhow... the less you know now, the better" the tall man said as he hauled Kim to her feet by her duct-taped hands and then proceeded to slice through the tape binding her legs together with a knife.

"It's a good thing you're awake, means you can walk and I don't have to carry you" Cannavale said as he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a roll of duct tape. "What makes me think I'll help you lure my dad out, even if he is in the country?" Kim retorted angrily as the tall man sliced a long piece of tape off the roll. "Oh you'll help alright.. that is, unless you want to come home to Los Angeles to find the bodies of your family, rotting and decaying!" Cannavale snapped as he slammed the piece of tape across his captive's mouth. "Now.. I'm going to trust you to walk in front of me. Try any funny business.. and all it will take is a simple phone-call.. then BANG. BANG. BANG. Three dead Wesleys!" he said coldly as he put the tape away and turned Kim around so that she was facing the way they needed to go. Reluctantly, Kim started walking. She was hopeful that the man was being truthful and that her father was actually in DC.

–

06:22:34AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Had it not been for the fact General Benediktov was up on the control deck of the submarine and would have therefore been able to hear what he was doing, Divjak would have slammed his head into his control panel in frustration. The Bosnian was still in the midst of trying to find out anything he could, but he wasn't having much luck – he'd even tried hacking into bank accounts that might be under the name of Melina Demitrijevic but he found that no such name existed. Whoever the General had been in contact with, he or she was operating under a false name. He needed something. Anything. And then an idea came to mind.. if he could get into Benediktov's office and look for something that might be a lead. But then the old Russian might come downstairs and catch him in the act. He needed Dragusha to keep him occupied for just two minutes. He reached for his ear-piece and placed it onto his ear before tuning the system towards just the Albanian's communication system. "Dragusha? Dragusha, _come in!_ " he said as quietly as he could. To his relief, the Albanian heard him. "Divjak?" he said just as quietly, knowing that Benediktov was to his immediate right though with his back turned. " _I need your help.._ I'm going to access the General's office. I need you to distract him for me. _Two minutes at the most.._ " the Bosnian asked. Dragusha rose his eyebrow. "Distract Benediktov? That'll be easy said than done... _but I'll try. Good luck_ " he said.

At that, Divjak crept quickly towards Benediktov's office. Once in front of the closed door, he lightly pushed down on the handle and made his way inside, praying that the door wouldn't start squeaking. To his relief, it didn't and as soon as he was in, he looked around for anything that might stand out – almost immediately, he spied the General's phone lying on the desk. He wouldn't need to move it, he would just need to connect it to his own phone so that he could download the necessary information. He pulled a long plug-wire from his pocket and attached one end into the charging slot on his phone before attaching the other end into the charging slot on Benediktov's phone.

"Right, if anyone needs me, I'll be in my office" the Russian General said suddenly on the bridge and he started to make his way towards the stairs. Dragusha knew it was very likely that Divjak hadn't even finished what he needed to do and he needed to think of something quickly. "Actually, General.. there is something" he said. Benediktov stopped and moved his head back, raising an eyebrow. "What might that be?" he asked. The Albanian quickly bought something up on his panel. "I was monitoring the intelligence lines and I found something irregular.." he said, hoping that the General's attention would be spiked. To his relief, it was. "Go on" Benediktov said, coming back up the stairs. What he didn't know was that the "intelligence" Dragusha had found was both irrelevant and from several hours ago, but the Albanian was hoping that the General had no idea of it, considering that it was on what had been deemed a "lesser" and "unimportant" intelligence line. "I found this literally this minute – it looks like some kind of APB to countries around the world" the Albanian revealed as he pulled up the data, whilst Benediktov pulled out a small pair of reading glasses. "Might not say much, but I doubt it needs to; long story short, I think the Americans have found out our identities or yours at the very least, seeing as the APB mentions Greenland".

The General looked closely at the APB – Dragusha was right in that the APB mentioned Greenland and gave some hints that they knew the identity of the main hijacker. After some mulling, the Russian looked at the Albanian and came down to his level. "Do you know if anyone has been in contact with people on the outside?" he asked quietly. Dragusha's blood ran cold – what if this was a trick question and he knew that Divjak had contacted someone in his hunt for information? He looked up at Benediktov. "Not that I'm aware of – I've been keeping an eye on everyone and I doubt they've even had time to try and contact anyone" he said, hoping the Russian would believe him. To his relief, Benediktov relaxed. "Perhaps no-one has contacted anyone – but it does mean the Americans are onto us" he warned. "What do you want to do?" Dragusha asked, unsure as to where the experienced Russian was going. "I want you to monitor every single action of everyone on this vessel – communications, searches, everything" Benediktov ordered. The Albanian rose an eyebrow. "Even Krylenko?" he asked. "Regrettably, yes".

This was actually hard on Benediktov as despite the difference in nationalities, Krylenko and Dragusha were the ones he had the most trust in. As the Russian stood up, Dragusha quickly spoke out loud to maintain a cover. "I understand, General. I'll start straight away" he said. "Make sure that you do" Benediktov replied, unaware that the door to his office was in the process of being opened – Divjak stuck his head out to make sure the coast was clear before making his way out and closing the door behind him slowly. He looked at his phone before walking back towards his control panel; he was hopeful there was something on there. There had to be.

–

 **United States Capitol**

Inside the House Chamber, the man tasked with setting up the secure phone line stopped tapping on his laptop and looked up at Belcheck. "I think we're just about done" he said, turning the laptop to face the Serb, who bent down to examine the details of the secure line. He nodded. "Do you have a cable I could connect this to.. Caneman?" he asked, pulling out his flip-phone. The man, who the Serb identified as Caneman based on his ID tag, looked at the phone and quickly rummaged around his laptop bag, before pulling out a long wire. "Lucky you and I have the same phone" he said, as Belcheck took the wire. He then stared at the American, who quickly caught on to what the Serb wanted. "I'll just.. sit back down" he said as he got up and moved back towards the group.

Belcheck turned the laptop back to where it was originally was as he plugged the cable into one of the laptop's connector hubs and sat down on the chair behind the desk. He connected the phone to the other end of the cable and flipped it open, watching as the screen flashed several times. As the seconds passed, he then keyed in a number and rang it. The group of hostages watched, mixed with either curiosity or worry as to just what he was doing.

–

01:26:21AM

 **White House**

Two Secret Service agents pulled open a set of large doors, as Yanes, Polston, a group of armed Marines and Secret Service agents and Jack came walking in. "Right, as soon as you get there, you need to find a Mr Dominic Lynch – he's acting head of security and you'll be jointly co-ordinating the operation with him" Yanes informed Jack. "Who was it that found out about the hostage-taking?" Jack replied. "A Mr Paxton Hammond. As it stands, he's the only one to have spoken to anyone in the House Chamber; whoever this gun-man is, he's keeping quiet" Polston explained. The group came to a large set of stairs heading downwards towards a long tunnel, just as a ringtone went off. Realizing it was his, Jack pulled his phone from his pocket. "Sorry, have to take this" he said, before turning to the group of Marines and Agents. "We move off in five minutes!" he said before turning his back and flipping the phone open. "This is Bauer" he said. " _Jack, are you alone?_ " a voice asked quietly. Jack almost double-taked, recognizing the voice. "Belcheck?" he almost yelled. " _Jack, just tell me.._ are you alone?" the Serb asked again, this time more insistent.

Now realizing what the Serb was trying to say, Jack immediately moved away from the waiting group and back behind the large doors – as soon as he was clear, he spoke. "Where are you? We've been trying to _contact you for over an hour!_ ". "I'm in the Capitol Building – Jack, listen, we have a problem.." Belcheck started, only to be interrupted. " _The Capitol Building?_ Ok, where in the building are you? I'll help you find a way out, the place is under siege" the CTU agent offered. But he heard only silence. " _You can't help me, Jack –_ at least, not right now" the Serb finally replied. Jack was confused. "You're not making sense; I can help you get out. _Just tell me where you are!_ " he pushed. Belcheck put his head into his hand and sighed; he was not going to like this. "I'm in the _House Chamber_ " he said. If Jack had been confused by the Serb when he said he couldn't help him "right now", he was now completely stupefied, something he never was. He had a hunch, but he didn't want to admit it. "Whereabouts are you? _I can try and track your heat signature. Can you see the hostages?_ " he asked.

"I can see the hostages quite clearly... none of them have been harmed as they're sitting right in front of me" the Serb admitted. It was at that moment Jack realized. "You... you're the one holding them hostage?" he spluttered. He took Belcheck's silence as a way of saying yes. " _Are you insane? What the_ hell were you thinking?" he hissed, trying not to alert anyone around him or on the other side of the doors. "I didn't have a choice..." the Serb started to explain, only for Jack to rip into him. "Didn't have... you've taken hostages in one of the most secure buildings in the world, _let alone the country! If they catch you, they'll_ have you tried for treason and not even the President is going to be able to help you!" the former CTU agent snarled in anger, bashing his fist against the wall. " _We can deal with that later –_ right now, you have a bigger problem" Belcheck tried to explain, but Jack interrupted once again. "DEAL WITH THIS LATER? _Did you not hear what I just said? If the police or the FBI catch you,_ I wouldn't put odds on the state pushing for the death penalty once this is over!".

" _Whatever reason you may have, it doesn't justify what you've done!_ " he continued. Belcheck knew he was right, but he had to try and alert Jack to what he knew; the reason why he got Caneman to set up the secure phone line. " _Sooner or later, you're going to be exposed and considering the state the_ President is in, I wouldn't put it past him to think you're one of the terrorists!" the former CTU agent continued to rant. Finally, the Serb decided to speak up. " _Just explain one thing to me, Belcheck –_ I know you have anti-American views but this? Why are you doing this?" Jack added.

"Because McKaye is working with the terrorists!" Belcheck finally snapped. This made Jack stop – he froze. "I'm sorry?" he asked, now a lot calmer. " _Whoever Benediktov is working with, whoever is helping me_ from within DC... McKaye is working with them in turn. I heard his voice!" the Serb explained. Whilst Jack was shocked by this revelation, he still had some reservations. "Still doesn't explain why you've taken hostages.." he pointed out. " _I know.._ but I can't tell you anything more, Jack. You need to take McKaye into custody first – then _I can explain why I'm doing this_ " Belcheck reasoned. Jack remained silent, trying to figure out what to do. "Alright.. _I'll see what I can do. But trust me, Belcheck,_ the White House is going to figure out it's you and unless you have a good reason.." he replied, intentionally cutting off the end of his sentence. " _I know._ Just get McKaye into custody" the Serb said before hanging up.

Jack looked deep in thought, trying to get his head around the news he had been told; Belcheck was the one who had taken hostages in the House Chamber, but from what he'd said, it had been done to attract the attention of the President as someone they thought was trustable turned out to have been working for the terrorists. Whilst he had some doubts, he knew the Serb – he wouldn't lie on something like this. The former CTU agent headed back towards the doors, knowing he had to tell someone he could trust. And he knew who exactly.

01:29:52AM

–

01:35:01AM

 **White House**

Walking quickly down a long, slightly lit tunnel were Jack, the Marines and the Secret Service agents, with Agent Yanes bringing up the rear. Above ground level, meanwhile, Polston was walking through the halls of the building towards the Oval Office. It was safe to say he was still reeling from what Jack had told him; McKaye, the man everyone had trusted from the moment he had introduced himself to Heller on Air Force One, was in fact working for the very people they were trying to stop. Of course, they had no real evidence of this except for Belcheck's word but considering he was a man heavily trusted by Jack, surely that meant something. Now, being a Secret Service agent, he had the power to "make arrests without warrants for any offence against the United States" as stated under Section 2056 of the United States Code, provided he had reasonable grounds to believe that a felony had been committed, but he knew Heller would demand answers straight away; besides, up to this point, McKaye hadn't done anything to suggest he was working against the President.

He approached the Oval Office and knocked on the door. "Come in!" he heard the President's voice reply and he opened the door. Heller and Baylis were sitting across from each other on the two sofas, seemingly in discussion. Heller was the first one to notice the Secret Service agent's presence. "Agent Polston! What can we do for you?" he asked. As Baylis looked up to see the agent, Polston started to became wrought with concern. He really hoped this wouldn't blow up in his face. "Um.. have any of you heard from Agent McKaye at all? Just I need to talk to him immediately" he asked. Baylis frowned. "Can't say that I have.. but now you mention it, I was wondering where he's gone. The second most-secure building in the country is under siege and yet we've not heard a word from him!" he said, his voice tainted with suspicion. "Mainly because I was having to brief the British Prime Minister, Mr Baylis" McKaye said out of the blue and everyone looked up in surprise to see the British MI-5 agent, standing to the left of Polston. "I'm sorry, Mr President. I know I should have knocked, but the door was open and... well, my ears were burning" he added, trying to add in a slight joke. Silence fell as he noticed the stony-faced glares on both Polston and Baylis.

"I understand Agent Polston has a few questions for you" Baylis said, unimpressed by the MI-5 agent's actions. McKaye looked down at Heller, who was rather confused by what was going on. "Alright.. how can I help, Agent Polston?" he asked. "Where were you around the time of the fire-fight at the Capital?" the Secret Service agent replied bluntly and to the point. McKaye frowned. "Oh... well, if my memory serves me, I was on the phone with Downing Street. But I did take a moment to inquire about the whereabouts of Belcheck as I couldn't seem to find him; Mr Baylis can back that up" he replied. Baylis crossed his arms as he finished and Polston looked at him. "This true, sir?". "Yes, it is" the NSA agreed. For a moment, it looked like the Secret Service agent was not going to ask his next question as he had turned his back on the British national. "You were speaking with Downing Street before the fire-fight?" he asked. McKaye rose an eyebrow. "Yes, that's why I said it" he replied, trying to avoid being sarcastic as he spoke. "Well, that's rather strange if I must say so myself... because I've just spoken with Downing Street. They haven't heard a word from you since Air Force One left London" Polston revealed, before turning on his heel to face the room again. "...which is even more bizarre considering MI-5 has never had an Andrew McKaye working for them in their whole life!"

Heller and Baylis froze, their faces filled with confusion. "I'm sorry, what is going on?" the President asked. "You know you thought there was a mole in the Pentagon, Mr President? Well, turns out the mole was with us all along. Wasn't he, Mr McKaye? Or should I say... Virgil Cummings?" Polston said, his voice slowly becoming more and more venomous and angry. For all the verbal attacks he was facing, Virgil Cummings kept a very stoic face. By now, Heller was starting to make sense of what was being said whilst Baylis was now walking towards the British national. It was at that moment that the increasing tension was broken. "Mr President? Is everything ok? I need to talk to you" Chloe asked from the doorway. By now, Baylis was just inches from Cummings and to the right of Polston – analysing the situation and looking for a way out, the British national struck. Just as the Secret Service agent reached for his gun, Cummings made a run for it, managing to grab a hold of Polston, swinging him with enough force to send him flying into Baylis. The British national then pulled out his gun and sent Chloe flying into the wall behind her, taking advantage of the distraction to grab a hold of her before making his way out of the Office.

Within an instance, he was met by a Secret Service agent and before the agent could react, Cummings had pumped two bullets into him. The echoing gunshots could be heard all through the surrounding halls of the White House and Cummings knew that he had to move quickly before the halls were full of agents ready to protect their commander-in-chief; he freed Chloe from his grip and ran for it. Charging through the hallways, he eventually came to a glass window and jumped through it, managing to avoid being cut by the broken shards as he got to his feet. "He's outside!" he heard a voice cry and he could see flash-lights to his right shining brightly – as he looked to the left, he realized that the below ground-level car park was not that far away and he made a break for it. Creeping up towards the checkpoint, he spotted the on-duty guard and struck, knocking him out with the butt of his gun. Noticing the flash-lights getting closer, he jumped over the barrier and ran down the ramp – but no sooner had he made it, than he found himself under gun-fire. As he forced himself to the ground, he could see bullets coming from all directions and striking the windows and wind-screens of various cars. He was practically immobilized.. but then he realized that the car nearest to him had a broken window. All he had to do was avoid the bullets whilst he opened the car door and hot-wired it.

Carefully looking and listening, Cummings got up from the ground and started to move his arm in the direction of the car-door lock; pulling it up, he tried the door handle and was relieved when it opened. Making sure no Secret Service agent could see him, he hauled himself onto the driver's seat and pulled open the wire compartment. After several failed attempts, he placed two wires against each other and the engine finally came to life – but Cummings knew he couldn't just look up straight away or he'd face being shot. Instead, he grabbed the clutch and threw it into reverse, before using his spare hand to press down on the accelerator, which sent the car backwards at high speed and slamming straight into a Land Rover. Getting his whole body into the seat, the British national then forced the clutch into forward gear and slammed on the accelerator – the car moved up the ramp at speed, with Secret Service agents diving for cover, before smashing through the barrier and onto the stone-road. He started to drive past the building and would have been home and dry to make it to the entry-point, had another car not come out of nowhere.

Swerving off the road, Cummings tried to regain control but found himself driving straight towards the helicopter that Jack had piloted from the North Atlantic. With a crash, the car slammed into the front of the helicopter and came to a juddering halt. Cummings came to this senses and got out of the car, only to be met by several agents holding their guns out against him and with some shouting "Freeze!" or "Don't move!". Realizing the game was up, the British national held his hands above his head and allowed an agent to handcuff him – as soon as that was done, he was led towards the White House, just as Heller, Baylis, Chloe and Polston came out. Cummings simply glared at the group, whilst Heller walked a few steps forward. "I'm disappointed, I must say. I trusted you with so much and yet to be told you were in fact working against me.." he said. The lack of facial response from the British national said it all and the President turned to the agent that had handcuffed Cummings. "Take him away, he's under arrest" he ordered. "Yes, sir" the agent agreed before taking the British national up the steps. "You can't stop them, you know" Cummings said suddenly. This got everyone's attention. "None of you will be able to stop what's coming – Belcheck, Jack, you, Mr President, none of you. In a few hours, this country is going to be rocked to the core; and none of you will see it coming" he continued, before being dragged away.

Baylis turned to face Heller. "I'm sorry, Mr President, but I've seen enough.. I'm giving the order for you to be taken to the ground-floor bunker effective immediately" he said, his tone suggesting he was not going to listen to anything his commander-in-chief might say. Heller sighed, knowing his National Security Advisor was right to be worried. "Very well, Brian. Lead the way" he said as the two went off. "You feeling alright?" Polston asked Chloe. The former analyst gave him a look of genuine surprise as she wasn't expecting the question. "I think so. Just a little shaken, I never would have thought he was working against us" she admitted. The Secret Service agent nodded. "What was it you wanted to tell the President?" he asked, remembering that Chloe had come into the Oval Office just as Cummings had been exposed. "I... It's not much, I was just giving him an update. So far, found nothing that suggests Guardstrom is involved in dangerous activity" she replied. Polston frowned. "Well, that's expected. But now we know the truth about Cummings, hopefully we can get something from him that might help; in the meantime, go ahead and talk with the President... I need to talk to Jack" he suggested. "Got it" Chloe said quietly before walking off. As she headed down the hall, Polston pulled out his phone.

–

01:40:42AM

 **United States Capitol**

Coming up a flight of stairs were Jack, Yanes and the group of Marines and agents – at the top of the stairs, there was a large wall in front of them and on the wall was a sign reading "US Capitol". Also at the top, as Jack could see, was an older security man. "Mr Bauer? Dominic Lynch" the man introduced himself and held his hand out. Jack shook it, remembering what Yanes said. "Hi. This is Agent Yanes, he's part of the President's detail" he introduced, as the two shook hands. "Any word from our hostage-taker?" Yanes asked. Lynch shook his head. "He's been deathly quiet, we've got Hammond sitting outside the Chamber in case he starts talking but so far, not a beep" he explained as the three started walking to the Capitol Building proper.

At that moment, Jack's phone rang. He had a feeling he knew who it was. "I'm expecting this, there a room I can have some privacy?" he asked. Lynch simply pointed to the room they were passing. "Thanks, I'll be a few minutes" the former CTU agent said as he walked in the room. He opened his phone as he closed the door. "This is Bauer" he said. " _Looks like you're right so far, Jack._ I challenged Cummings and he tried to escape; he's currently in custody" Polston said, jumping straight to the point. Only Jack was mystified. "Cummings? Who the hell is Cummings?" he asked. " _Turns out MI-5 Andrew McKaye_... is in fact Virgil Cummings. I followed up what you told me and spoke to MI-5 in London. Andrew McKaye does _not exist and London never sent a British agent to accompany the President!_ " the Secret Service agent explained. Jack's blood ran cold; how on earth did it elude them? How on earth could an ordinary British national working with terrorists infiltrate the President's inner circle and keep himself hidden for so many hours? It just completely begged belief and it asked several questions. Had anyone infiltrated the government? Did it mean that the terrorists could avoid being detected if they played their cards the right way?

"Does the President know about Belcheck?" he asked, changing the subject. " _Not yet, he doesn't –_ but now we have Cummings in custody, Belcheck is gonna have to tell all. _If he's been forced to do this like he said, it must be big_ " Polston reasoned. "Yeah.. I'm gonna send you the number he rang me on. _Set it up so the President can hear_ " Jack ordered. "Will do" the Secret Service agent replied, a few seconds before Jack hung up. Going through his phone, he found the call history and spotted the number used by Belcheck to ring him fifteen minutes prior.

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

In the below-level weapons hangar, the left-hand wing of "Project Connaughton" was being secured to the main body – the wing was in place, but workers were either welding it into place or securing wiring underneath between the wing and main body. Dr Hampson was watching from his usual spot in the lab, arms crossed and a blank expression on his face.

Unbeknown to him, in the testing area of the lab were his assistants Hancock and O'Neill. O'Neill was on his phone, waiting impatiently for the person he was calling, whilst Hancock kept an eye out for anyone who might spot them. Finally, the ringing ended. " _You're late_ " a gruff male voice said, irritated. "I'm sorry about that, Mr Henderson – we've been busy, _this was the first chance we had to contact you_ " the assistant explained..

–

 **Woodland**

..whilst Henderson walked through the woodland to DC. "Ok, I can accept that – how goes things? _Has anyone figured out our little arrangement?_ " he asked. "Not yet – as it stands, Walkman is too busy dealing with a situation at the Capitol Building" O'Neill revealed. " _Situation?_ What, couldn't your President do something as simple as attack a US infrastructure?" Henderson replied, the sarcasm in his voice obvious. "It's not that simple – we infiltrated the Capitol Building alright but then we found out one of our members was working against us; _by the time we realized, this person had taken the detonator for the weapon and taken hostages in the building!_ " O'Neill protested, thinking that Henderson believed the incident to be their fault. "Hostages?! Who the hell is this person?" Henderson almost yelled out-loud, not expecting hostages to have been taken. "We don't know. But all you need to know is that he's working with Jack Bauer" the lab assistant replied swiftly. This little revelation got Henderson's attention.

"Working with Bauer, you say? How can you be so sure?" he asked; what O'Neill didn't realize was that this was more of a trick question. Henderson was confident in that this person who had infiltrated the group was working with Bauer, but he couldn't given anything away. " _On the basis that_ this person was photographed in London with Bauer just over a day ago and then there was you know what happening with the President" O'Neill replied. At that moment, Hancock spotted someone coming towards them. "Arnie.." he said quickly. Recognizing that Hancock had spoken rather quickly, O'Neill did the same. "Sorry, but we have to go. Or else we'll be spotted" he said. " _Fair enough, but just one more question –_ how is Experiment #Sunderland09 coming along?" Henderson asked, as he propped himself up against a tree. At first, it seemed like O'Neill wasn't going to reply.

"It's going well – very well, in fact. Could be ready within a few hours" he said confidently. " _Excellent – I'll call as soon as I get somewhere safe in the city_ " Henderson said before hanging up. At that moment, Dr Hampson opened the door to the testing area. "If you two aren't busy, can I have a word?" he asked. "Sure, boss. Just give us a second" Hancock agreed. As Hampson closed the door, O'Neill turned to his fellow assistant. "That was close – Walkman would have given us hell if we'd exposed our operation" he muttered. "Tell me about it; we're supposed to be gaining this guy's trust and letting him think we're gonna work to what he wants. How do you think he would react if it turned out he's being taken for a fool?" Hancock replied, as he opened the door. "Well hopefully, he'll get to DC soon. Then we can break it to him "gently"" O'Neil said smugly as the two went off in the direction that their superior had gone to.

–

 **White House**

"Alright, what is it that's so important?" Baylis asked Polston sternly as the Secret Service agent walked into the steel-enforced bunker. "Well, I've just got off the phone with the White House switchboard. They're doing something to the bunker's phone so you'll be able to listen in on a phone-call" the Secret Service Agent explained. "Ok, but why? What's so important that we need to listen in on a phone-call?" Chloe replied, making a perfectly valid point. "Well, to cut a long story short.. Jack's been in contact with Belcheck" Polston revealed. Three sets of eyes rose in shock. "Where is he?" Chloe was the first to ask. "Well, I'll let him explain when he talks with Jack – but in short, he's alive" the agent repeated. At that moment, the phone rang and Polston was first to answer. "White House. Right, ok" he said, before pressing down on the phone's speaker option. "Jack, you're on the President".

" _Go ahead, Belcheck_ " the four-strong group could hear the former CTU agent's voice well and a few seconds passed until they heard another familiar voice. " _Hello, Mr President_ " Belcheck said and Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. "We've been wondering where you've been, Mr Belcheck. _You've given us quite a fright_ " Baylis explained. "Yes.. well, I apologize for that. But I couldn't tell anyone anything, not until I knew _McKaye was out of the picture_ " the Serb replied. "Ok, well McKaye IS out of the picture – now we want some answers. _Where are you?_ " Heller asked, his tone of voice far less suspicious than that of Baylis. "Well.. I'm in the Capitol Building. Or rather, the House Chamber" Belcheck said calmly. Chloe, Heller and Baylis looked at each other, all three of them with confusion on their faces. "Did you say the House Chamber? I don't know if you've heard but that's where.." Baylis started, having failed to connect the dots like Jack had. ".. _where someone has taken hostages. I know;_ I'm that someone" the Serb said. Baylis's face dropped like a ton of bricks. "You.. YOU'RE the one holding hostages?" he almost yelled, as Chloe got up from her seat, reeling from the news.

" _I know what you're gonna say.._ but you have to believe me. I didn't want to do this – but when I found out about McKaye, I had no choice! _I had to find a way of alerting you_!" came the Serb's reply. Only this served to anger Baylis some more. "No choice? Mr Belcheck, you've taken hostages in the United States Capitol! At this minute, you've got a good portion of American forces waiting for you to make a false move – how can you claim you had "no choice"?" he retorted. The room, as well as Jack, heard laboured breathing. "Because by doing this, I managed to stop a possible attack!" Belcheck revealed. Jack was first to ask. " _How do you mean?_ ". "You know that lead we got from NCIS? It checked out – I found a group of men at that industrial park. _Don't ask me how, but they'd managed to get a hold of the VX gas from Flight 681! They_ were planning to use it on the Capitol's air-conditioning system and I was trying to find out a way to warn you – that is, _until I found out about McKaye_ " the Serb continued.

To everyone in the enforced bunker, it started to make sense – whilst the way that Belcheck had tried to get a message to them was far from ideal, they knew that he never intended to actually harm anyone. All he had tried to do was alert them and now they knew he wasn't the main threat. But one thing that didn't make sense to them was the fact that the group of men found at the industrial park had managed to get their hands on the VX gas. "Where are the canisters now?" Polston asked. " _Last time I checked,_ the maintenance room. They had been set up to detonate by remote control and were ready to go.. thankfully, I've got the detonator. If anyone survived the fire-fight, _they've no way of detonating the canisters_ " Belcheck revealed, giving his assurances that that part of the danger was over. At first, no-one really said a word as they were trying to figure out what to do next. "Well.. I appreciate your determination, son. I do. _But you've left us in a tight spot. Whichever way you look at it, you've still taken hostages in the Capitol Building._ Even with my influence, I don't think the state is going to go easy on someone taking hostages.." Heller reasoned. "So, what? We just leave him?" Chloe objected, thinking the President was considering just leaving the Serb in his predicament.

"I didn't suggest we leave him, Ms O'Brian. _However, we can't mount a rescue without alerting the police or anyone a-like. What I'm saying is.._ " he replied, before pausing. "...Jack _,_ _I'm trusting you with finding a way to get Belcheck out of the House Chamber._ Call it a Black Ops operation or whatever, but you have to get him out before anyone can see who he is". It was certain to say that Jack was not expecting such a request but he agreed. "I'll try my best, Mr President" he replied. " _Thank you. But in the meantime,_ you need to try and find the maintenance room. We need to recover those canisters as soon as possible" Heller continued. _"Will do_ " he heard the former CTU agent reply. "And Belcheck.. _don't do anything risky. Just stand by_ " he added. Belcheck remained silent at first before replying. "I'll try – just get here quickly" he requested before hanging up.

"Alright, everyone get to work!" Heller ordered and both Chloe and Polston headed out. "Brian, I need you to speak with the Secretary of State. Inform him of what's going on and raise the alert level" he added. Baylis rose an eyebrow but considering how they were now a few men down, they needed to cover all they can. "I'll get right on it, sir" he said, though sounding a little uneasy at having to leave the President on his own. Heller watched his NSA leave the ground-floor bunker and sighed in frustration; just what could have been missed because of their letting a British mole handle such important situations?

01:49:52AM

–

01:53:21AM

 **United States Capitol**

"I'm sorry Mr Bauer, but it just seems completely far-fetched!" whilst sympathetic to what he had been told, Dominic Lynch couldn't help but feel that what he had been told was a bit unrealistic. "I mean, the hostage-taker working undercover? If he truly was working undercover, he would have told us already!" he added. Jack sighed, irritated. "He couldn't tell anyone, sir. Basically, he uncovered evidence of an infiltrator in the city and he couldn't reveal what he was doing until this infiltrator was taken into custody!" he reasoned, also keeping some elements secret as so not to uncover the fact the government had been duped so easily by a British national. "Mr Bauer, I have sympathy for you.. and I am having guards check the rooms around maintenance, but the fact remains that whoever this hostage-taker is, he's committing terrorism and I have a duty to take him into custody" Lynch said. As he walked off, Jack knew that he did have a point – regardless of what was going on, Belcheck could still be viewed as a terrorist and the security forces would do everything in their power to stop anyone trying to commit terrorist acts on their soil.

Which meant that there weren't many options left with regards to Belcheck – as it stood, Chloe was looking over the layout of the building for a secret passage to the House Chamber. As was suggested, no-one on the outside knew that it was Belcheck and if he could somehow get the hostages on his side, then they'd keep his identity a secret. Maybe, just maybe. At that moment, his phone rang. "Bauer" he said, flipping it open and speaking into it before it was even next to his ear. " _Jack, I think I've found a route_ " Chloe said. "Good – _what have you got?_ " he replied. "Basically, it's a tunnel running right underneath the Chamber; _it was built there in the 20_ _th_ _century in case there was a need to get someone out fast_ " the former analyst explained. "That's good – whereabouts is it?" Jack pushed. " _According to the layout,_ it's behind the Chamber itself. Behind the main desk, there's a door leadingto a passageway which _links in with the tunnel between the White House and the Capitol Building_ " Chloe revealed.

That was enough for Jack. "Right, send it to my PDA" he ordered and moved to hang up. " _Wait, Jack – one more thing_ " Chloe said quickly. The former CTU agent stopped, raising an eyebrow. "What's wrong, Chloe?" he asked. Chloe took her time before answering. "Does this seem alright to you? I mean, _it's like Mr Baylis said – Belcheck's effectively committing terrorism and now it_ feels like the President is going against his own country by trying to help him in secret" he said, making a rather valid point. In Jack's mind, she was being reasonable, but this wasn't the time for being sensible or reasonable. "Chloe, I get what you mean.. _but really, looking at things reasonably is not a luxury we can afford right now._ Whatever way you look at it, we need Belcheck. We can deal with any consequences later" he replied. Chloe sighed inwardly, knowing her friend was right. "I need to talk with Belcheck about what you found, I'll ring you in a bit" he added before hanging up.

Little did he know, however, that not too far from his position was Lynch, talking with the group of Marines that Jack had bought from the White House. "I know you've been briefed on the situation and I know you think you're taking orders from Mr Bauer as well, but as of now, you takes order from me and me only. I have a plan in mind as to how we deal with this hostage-taker – for you see, the layout for this building includes an escape passageway linking the House Chamber with the below-level tunnel. You're gonna go back into the tunnels and you're gonna go into this passageway; then, you're going to infiltrate the House Chamber and free the hostages.. is that understood?" he explained. Though surprised by Lynch's demanding attitude and his strange belief that he was in charge of dealing with the situation, the group nodded. "Good – follow Mr Rawlings and he'll show you the passage" he ordered. He then watched as the Marines all left; he couldn't understand why he had to jointly co-ordinate an operation inside a building that he was technically in charge of in terms of security and he wasn't going to jointly co-ordinate with anyone. Besides, this plan was full-proof.

–

 **Woodland**

Henderson felt like he had been walking forever – even with two-minute breaks every 30 minutes, he felt like his legs were going to fall on. On the plus side, by going through the woodland, he had not met any residence from security forces.

As he charged on, he started to wonder just how far DC could be – but then his question was abruptly answered as he suddenly saw a bright flash of light come in his direction. Initially blinded by the light, he forced himself forwards and took shelter behind a tree – as the light faded away, Henderson blinked and looked downwards. To his surprise, it was almost like a cliff edge and he looked up to see a large city for miles and miles away. As he looked around, he spied a tall-looking building.. the Washington Monument. It dawned on him; he had finally made it to DC. He was hopefully just miles away from facing the President of the United States and Jack Bauer.

He started to make his way downwards towards the city, hoping that Cannavale would arrive soon.

–

 **White House**

Heller sat back on one of the bunker's sofas, deep in thought – the last hour, for what he could remember of it, had been a complete blur. From learning that McKaye was actually a mole working for the terrorists to then finding out that the hostage situation at the United States Capitol was Belcheck's doing as he had been trying to make contact with the White House to warn of an attempted attack. But he couldn't help but think about the comments made by McKaye. Or rather, the comments made by Virgil Cummings - " **In a few hours, this country is going to be rocked to the core; and none of you will see it coming** ". What could that mean, exactly? Could it be to do with Benediktov and the submarine charging towards the East Coast of America? Or was it to do with a far deadlier threat that no-one had figured out?

At that moment, the bunker's phone rang. Heller was rather confused by it at first, but then realized that someone might have alerted the switchboard as to the location change. He leaned forward and picked up the phone. "This is Heller, go ahead" he said. " _Excuse me, Mr President?_ " he heard a strange Russian voice reply. "I'm sorry, who is this?" he asked. " _My apologies, Mr President –_ I'm Agent Kuznetsov of the Russian Intelligence Services, we spoke a few hours ago?" Kuznetsov replied, still in the burnt-out ruins of the Russian bunker in Greenland. Because of his mental state, Heller couldn't remember even speaking to an Agent Kuznetsov but he did not to come across as weak or something alike. "Yes, I remember. _What can I do for you, son?_ " he replied. "Well, I was trying to find some more evidence that might reveal just what Benediktov is up to and _I found something. Something that involves you_ " the Russian explained. Heller rose an eyebrow. "Ok, what is it?" he asked, curious. But then he heard nothing but silence on the other end, followed up by what sounded like a reluctant sigh. " _Well.._ don't ask me how, but what you experienced in London; it's connected to Benediktov. It seems that _he was the one who authorized the Russian's attempts to capture Jack Bauer – Anatol Stolnavich was just there to ensure identity protection_ " the agent revealed.

Heller could have sworn the name Anatol Stolnavich sounded familiar, but he just couldn't remember where he'd heard it. "Ok.." he said, albeit a little uneasily. " _And there's more – I don't know how, but_ Benediktov had a role to play in the death of your daughter. It looks like HE was the one who had ordered her assassination _and not Cheng Zhi – Zhi didn't even know a second assassin was marking her.._ " Kuznetsov admitted. He knew that it was a touchy subject to talk about considering the events in London, but he also knew the President had a right to know. Only now, the other line had gone silent. Heller had dropped the phone and was in a state of shock – suddenly, all kinds of memories were flooding back. He got up from the sofa and he felt his mind filling up with memories he couldn't remember minutes ago – the relevation that Jack was in London, him nearly being killed at Wembley, the news that Audrey was dead, the news of both his Chief of Staff and his Vice-President being reported dead and then the news of Benediktov. Suddenly, everything was becoming a blur and finally, it happened. Heller felt a loss of energy and suddenly collapsed onto the floor of the bunker. " _Hello? Hello? Mr President?_ " Kusnetsov said, getting increasingly worried as he spoke. But no answer came, for President James Heller had lost consciousness.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Ever since returning to his control panel, Divjak had been slowly but surely working through what he had pulled off Benediktov's phone. He wasn't able to work as quickly as he wanted to, owing to the fact that he had to work secretly and hide what he was doing from view every time someone that wasn't Dragusha came by.

Just as it seemed like he wasn't going to find anything, he found something out of the ordinary; whilst it may have looked like a bog-standard phone number at first, he noticed that it was a number that had been rung several times since they'd left Greenland. He couldn't help but feel curious but it and he picked up his own phone; after looking around carefully to see if anyone was coming, he rapidly typed in the number and rang it. After several seconds, someone finally answered. " _President Walkman's Office_ " an American voice replied. Within an instant, Divjak hung up. Why would Benediktov be in contact with Americans? It didn't make sense. But then another thought crossed him and he went onto an Internet search engine. The Bosnian typed in "Guardstrom" and he was immediately taken to a strange website. He briefly looked around before coming across a page of contacts – including one for a President Jordan Walkman.

"Ok, what are you hiding, General?" the Bosnian muttered to himself and another thought sprang to mind – he went back onto the bank page and instead tried typing in "Jordan Walkman". To his utter surprise, it worked and the account he found matched the details found on the website – but then, he found something else. Bank transactions. And one that stood out was one going into her account. Clicking on it, he then discovered a note and a payment of $20,000,000. "What..?" he muttered to himself as he opened the note.

" **I know you said not to send the money to this account, Jordan, but as it is, I've had no choice. Long story short, the job is done – the soldiers and rebels who pursued Bauer, they've all been eliminated. Benediktov has no clue this has happened; so far, he's fallen right into our trap and sooner or later, he'll have no way out of it. GB"**

Divjak started to raise his eyebrow... but then stopped. Now that he thought about it, contact had been lost with Eastern Cell hours ago. Suddenly, it started to make a whole lot of sense. This "Melina Dimitrijevic" was nothing more than a false name to cover for who the General was really talking to, this Jordan Walkman. And the money sent to Walkman's account was a form of payment for getting rid of Eastern Cell. The Bosnian had uncovered something huge – Marina Cell had been led up the garden path and were seemingly falling into a trap. He had to tell someone and fast

–

02:00:00AM

* * *

So... things are starting to come to a head; the government may have just lost yet another important figure, whilst the truth is about to be exposed to Marina Cell. Oh, and Henderson has finally reached DC. What do you want to happen next or what do you think will happen next?

Come the reviews coming! Give me a reason to keep going


	16. 16: 2am - 3am (WET):

You know the rules - keep reviewing and rating! 

AND:

 **Disclaimer - See Chapter 1 (And apply this to the previous chapter as well as I forgot to put it in - oops)**

* * *

16: 2am – 3am (W.E.T):

 **The following takes place between 2am and 3am, Washington Eastern Time:**

–

02:00:01AM

 **House Chamber**

"Right, I'll get back to you on that" Belcheck flipped his phone closed and looked across at the group of hostages, who were either talking quietly to each other or just looking straight at him, worried about what he might do to them if things didn't go their way. He got up from the desk and walked towards them; they needed his reassurance. As he stood above them, all looked ahead at him. "I'm not here to hurt anyone – and if I'm honest, I never had any intention of taking hostages. But I need you to trust me and I need you to hear me out" he said calmly and slowly. Surveying the faces, he noticed that some just kept looking up at him, worried over what he might do – which wasn't helped by the fact he had his gun in his left hand. Hoping the gesture would go some way in convincing them he wasn't a threat, he put the gun in his back trouser pocket.

"If you're not here to hurt us.. why are you here to begin with? Why were you in the building when you're clearly not American?" one of the hostages asked and the Serb recognized him as the man who had set up the secure phone-line earlier. "I was in the building.. to stop a terrorist act. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm working with the President; these terrorists are responsible for some of the atrocities in the last few hours and they would have been successful if not for my intervention right here" he revealed, noting the shocked and disbelieving faces of the hostages. "How were they going to attack the Capitol?" another man asked, still with his suspicions. Silently, Belcheck took off his jacket and turned it around to reveal the "Air-Cool Conditioning" logo on the back. "This. I'm sure you've learnt of Flight 681 being hijacked, Mr Forster?" he asked the man directly, unaware that he was actually Samuel Forster, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. "Why, yes I am. How could you...?" Forster replied, taken aback by the fact that this European person had clear knowledge of information he had only been told of hours previously.

Belcheck replied, "Because I was on that flight, trying to stop the hijackers. Mainly because they were threatening to detonate VX gas attached to the landing gear. And somehow the gas then found itself in the hands of terrorists planning to attack the Capitol – in fact, had I not intervened when I did, you would all be dead". Forster's eyes rose, more out of shock than anything. "Well... I don't know about everyone else, but I'm starting to think what you're saying has some legs. But it doesn't account for why you had to do this – had to take us hostage" he said calmly and reasonably. The Serb turned around and remained silent. "The White House had been compromised; a man working for the terrorists had managed to slip in under our noses and I only found out an hour ago. I didn't have any time, I had to do something to alert the President" he said, before turning back around. "And here's why you need to trust me; I need to get out of here before I'm caught. I need your silence on the matter as no-one can ever know that I was here" he continued, hoping to get through to them.

Little did any of them know, however, that just a few metres away from them and behind the door which was in-turn behind the main desk, the group of Marines were closing in on the Chamber.

"Why can't you just surrender yourself and get the President to back you up?" a woman asked. Belcheck resisted the urge to sigh. "Because regardless of whoever backs me up, the State will do whatever it takes to have me charged with aiding an enemy of the United States" he countered. When he saw their faces still remaining somehow blank, he tried again. "Look – do you honestly think I'm going to hurt any of you? I would rather facing a firing squad in Serbia than kill you. It's regretful I had to take you hostage to begin with.. but I'm pleading with you to trust me. I will not harm any of you, but I..." he continued, only to be interrupted by a strange sound from behind him. It sounded like it was coming from behind the desk – and possibly from the secret passageway that Jack had told him about just a minute previously. He turned his head to the hostages. "Don't make a sound" he said quietly before pulling his gun out – as he neared the door to the passageway, he grabbed his "AirCool Conditioning" hat and put it on in the hopes he wouldn't be identified straight away.

Slowly making his way towards the door, he checked his gun to make sure it was loaded before forcing the door forward as slowly as he possibly could – through the small dark gap, he couldn't see anything at first. He looked back towards the group and was about to close the door when it just smashed open. Forced backwards by the surprise action, Belcheck saw at least three Marines charge in – knowing even a delayed second could be costly, he spotted a fourth Marine coming in and took action. He instantly got his arm around the Marine's neck and positioned his gun upwards, firing... straight at one of the Marines who fell forwards. The two Marines turned around just in time to see Belcheck pressing his gun into the check of his captive; the Serb heard guns cocking behind him and then turned to face the remaining Marines who were holding their guns up against him. He kept his head down, making sure no-one could see his face. "Get out. Or I'll shoot his brains out!" he snarled. But then he did something no one saw coming, as Belcheck moved his gun to his immediate right and shot one of the two Marines already in the room without even looking upwards. "I SAID GET OUT!" he roared and he tipped his head to see the Marines quickly evacuating the room.

The lone Marine standing to the right of Belcheck moved to go with the group, only to be stopped by the Serb pointing his gun at him. "Take a message back to whoever sent you" he said suddenly, clearly talking to the Marine about to close the door to the passageway. "...if anyone tries another rescue attempt, I will kill every single person in this room" he added, his voice getting even more stern and cold by the word. That did the trick as the Marines left quickly, the door closing behind them. Without wasting a second, Belcheck pointed his gun at the other standing Marine, motioning for him to come to the desk. "Any weapons you have, put them on the desk" he ordered both, to which they took out various guns from their outfits and placed them on the desk with the bin of radios. "Right, now sit down over there with the other hostages!" he said, pointing his gun at both Marines who did as they were told. "Bloody idiots – they've wrecked everything" he muttered to himself as he put his head in his hands. As one of the Marines sat down, he noticed Forster looking at him. And he was not happy. "Why did you do that?" he asked. The Marine looked at him, confused. "We were trying to save you, sir. He was.." he started. But the Ambassador replied, "He wasn't holding anyone hostage! In fact, he only did this to alert the President – he saved our lives".

Everyone looked at him in shock – it seemed the words of Belcheck had gotten through to Samuel Forster

–

 **White House**

Baylis walked through the halls of the White House, back towards the safe-room bunker – he had informed the Secretary of State Michael Gerrard, next in line to the Presidency should anything happen to Heller in the next few hours, of what was happening and what they were doing to combat it. Gerrard hadn't sounded too convinced by some of what he had been told considering Heller's mental state but owing to the fact that Heller was still mentally competent as well as the fact that he was still in the air and in no position to do anything, he accepted what was being proposed. He was about to round the corner to the hallway where the bunker was when his phone rang – he was perplexed to see a number he didn't recognize. "This is Baylis" he said, though with uncertainty in his voice, as he opened the phone and spoke into it. " _Hello, Mr Baylis?_ " a strange, almost Eastern European, voice spoke. The NSA rose his eyebrow. "Who is this?" he asked, though perhaps with too much hostility than he had wanted. " _I'm sorry, sir – I'm Agent Kusnetsov._ I spoke with your President about three hours ago, to do with General Benediktov?" the Russian explained, now outside the wrecked bunker and back under the darkly lit sky of Greenland.

Baylis remembered hearing the name. " _OH OF COURSE!_ Now I know who you are, yes. What do I can do for you, Agent?" he replied. " _Well.. it might sound strange_ but it's not so much a request. In fact, I'm worried" Kusnetsov admitted. Baylis replied over the phone, " _I don't understand_ ". "Well, only 10 minutes ago, _I found out some troubling information. I called your President about it and well.._ then I lost all contact with him" the Russian revealed. The NSA again rose his eyebrow and frowned. He saw he was just outside the safe-room bunker and his insides turned. "Get the door open!" he ordered. "Yes, sir" an agent replied and he began to scan his hand on the room's locking system. " _I have to ask, Mr Baylis.. is the President? He doesn't seem himself_ " Kuznetsov enquired. Baylis was unsure of whether to reply at first as he saw the doors unlocking and opening. "Well, there's... not much that be said yet, agent, but what I can say is that..." he started as he walked towards the opening doors and through them, only to be stopped by what he saw inside. His blood ran cold and he dropped the phone onto the floor, as he caught glimpse of the President lying on the floor on his side, cold and still.

" _Hello? Mr Baylis?_ " Kuznetsov repeated over and over, but to no avail as no-one could hear him, as the NSA ran towards the President's still body. An agent peered in and froze as he too saw the President on the floor. Baylis turned his head, his face now filled with worry. "GET A MEDIC!" he cried and the agent ran off. In the meantime, Baylis undid his commander-in-chief's shirt in the hopes of finding at least a heartbeat.

–

02:06:47AM

 **United States Capitol**

From his corner of his eye, Lynch could see Jack coming towards him. And looking very angry. Probably the angriest he'd seen someone in all his years of security. "Look, Jack.." he started, only to be shoved back into the nearest wall. "WHAT THE HELL! YOU SENT THE MARINES IN TO FREE THE HOSTAGES WITHOUT CONSULTING ME?!" the former CTU agent roared. He could see the shocked faces of officers and people a-like all around him, but he did not give a crap; he hadn't been this angry since his one-man manhunt for vengeance in New York. "I just thought it might be better if..." the older man tried to explain, only to be cut off. "We are supposed to be working together on this! BY ORDER OF THE PRESIDENT NO LESS! What gives YOU the right to jump ahead with an operation that has left us several men down and to do it BEHIND. MY. BACK!" Jack continued to yell as he started to notice how Lynch didn't seem to care. Finally, the older man looked directly in his eyesight. "Ok.. you wanna know why I did it? Fine. I don't know why I've been assigned someone to work with me on this – this is my building and I consider it an insult that I have to work with someone just because the President said so. Secondly.. I have no idea why it has to be YOU of all people"

"I've read your file, BAUER. Considering all of your crimes, I'm absolutely flabbergasted that the President wants you here to begin with – and before you ask, I do know that you've been pardoned. Frankly, I don't have the faintest idea why. You should be in a prison cell by now and maybe the reputation of federal agents would be able to recover" Lynch snapped back. He moved to the side of the younger agent and began to walk off, only to find himself promptly turned around and thwacked in the face by Jack – the older man went crashing into a table. "We may not like each other, but accept it! WE HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER!" the former agent snapped before stopping off, sending another table flying. Going through the nearest double-doors, he was about to smash his fist against a glass-window only for his phone to start ringing. At first, he contemplated just letting it ring but after the fifth ring, his conscious gave out. He snapped the phone open and spoke into it, "Jack Bauer". " _Hello, Mr Bauer?_ " a female voice replied, a voice Jack had never heard of.

" _I'm sorry, I'm Commissioner Olivia Archer of the New Jersey Police Department. I had to go through several hoops to get your number from the White House.._ " the Commissioner started and would have started rambling on if not for Jack interrupting. "I'm sorry, but I'm rather busy. Can you get to the point?" he replied, perhaps a bit too bluntly but he didn't want to sound rude. " _I'm sorry – well, I'm guessing you haven't found out_ but there was an attack on one of our police stations about four hours ago. We've been trying to figure out who was behind it since and we've just found something that connects you to it" she explained. Jack was confused. "Connects me? I mean no disrespect, Commissioner, but unless you have something concrete.." he replied, only for Archer to interrupt. " _Your daughter._ Kimberly Wesley, nee Bauer. I'm sorry to have to report that it seems the attack on our station _was planned simply to abduct your daughter_ " she revealed.

Jack stopped, stone-cold – he found himself unable to speak and unable to move as he fell to the ground. " _Mr Bauer?_ " the Commissioner spoke again, concerned that Jack was not replying. "Do... _do you have any idea who took her?_ " he was able to get out. "No, I'm sorry – but we have got the licence plate of the person who has her. _We're running it through the system as it is, but at the minute, no luck_ " he heard Archer reply. He started to splutter the words he wanted to say once again, but it took several seconds for him to say them. "Call.. call me when you get something" he said, before snapping the phone shut. He could not believe it – on top of everything happening, someone had kidnapped Kim. He didn't have the faintest idea of whether it was just a random abduction or... or worse, if someone connected to the attacks and to Guardstrom had taken her in an attempt to get to him. He put his hand on his forehead, starting to wonder where the events of the next few days was going to take him.

–

 **Washington DC**

Considering it was early morning, DC was very slightly abuzz with the various nightclubs closing and people having to walk home due to the area surrounding the United States Capitol being shut by police – within the mix was Henderson. He was now in the city proper itself and now had to wait for Cannavale to arrive with Bauer's daughter – then he could begin his operation to eliminate Bauer as well as the government, or at least what was left of it, all in one fell swoop. They were all going to pay a very steep price indeed: Bauer for murdering his father all those years ago and the government for screwing him over and imprisoning him all those years ago for essentially trumped up, false charges. Now he just had to hope his contacts in Guardstrom came through.

They had agreed to meet up in a 24-hour doughnut shop somewhere near the Washington Navy Yard and he had to find a way there; he was doubtful the metro would be open, so he would have to either commandeer a taxi or steal a car. Considering he didn't want to be caught, he would have to get a taxi – he pulled the wallet he had stolen from the police officer in the Denny's out of his pocket and checked to see how much money was in it. He could see about $30. Perfect. He started to move to the side of the road in search of a taxi and he finally spotted one, flagging it down. "Where to, mate?" the driver asked as he stuck his head out of the driver's window. "The... is there a doughnut shop near the Navy Yard?" Henderson asked, at first a little uneasily. "Sure is, hop in!" the driver said. At that, Henderson climbed into the back and shut the door, watching the driver turn the car around. However, what neither person knew was that this had been caught by a security camera.

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

There was a knock on the door to Walkman's office. Walkman herself looked up from her phone-call. "Come in!" she said. As she watched O'Neill and Hancock come in, she finished up her call. "Ok, that's brilliant. I'll be down in a few minutes" she said before hanging up. She moved her head upwards and smiled. "You two couldn't have timed that better if you tried – I've just had confirmation. Henderson is in the city" she revealed. O'Neill's eyes rose in complete surprise. "Really? He's here already?" Hancock said, rightly taken aback. "That's what the people monitoring the security cameras say – just means we have to move a little quicker than we first thought" Walkman replied, standing up as she spoke

"But anyhow, everything's nearly in place. The package you two are to take has been prepared and in case that goes wrong, we have a back-up plan in position. But whatever happens, we must take out Henderson before he learns too much" she continued, the two men nodding as she spoke. "Where is the package now?" O'Neill enquired. "Downstairs – I was just heading to collect it, but I think you two can get it. Besides, the sooner we can start the operation, the better" she said. The two nodded and moved to leave, but were interrupted. "One more thing.. I can't thank you enough for doing this whole operation. I'll make sure you're properly commemorated" she said, genuinely grateful. Hancock smiled. "Our pleasure, Madame President" he said as he and O'Neill left. The door closed and Walkman sighed, turning on her heel to walk back to her desk. It was a damned shame that those two had to die, a damned shame – but she knew that Henderson had to be eliminated or the risk of their plans being exposed began a real possiblity.

02:13:01AM

–

02:17:54AM

 **United States Capitol**

Jack walked back through the double-doors and towards Lynch, who was now the proud owner of a huge shiner around his left eye. He glared at the former agent, who glared back as he walked towards him. "We may have our differences on how we treat and view each other... but for now, let's put that aside and try and get to deal with this" he said, holding his hand out to shake as he spoke. At first, Lynch simply eyed the hand before hesitantly accepting it. "Very well" he said. "Any word from our hostage-taker?" Jack asked. "Not a peep – in fact, if I'm not mistaken, the warning to the Marines when they tried to take him by surprise are the only words he's uttered in the last hour" the older man revealed.

Jack knew that Belcheck wouldn't be able to last out for much longer – the fact he's killed two of the Marines has made things a lot worse. "I've got the Marines hiding out in the passageway and they've wired in some explosives; before long, this guy will have to surrender" Lynch continued. Damn. That makes things worse. "What about the search for the canisters? I'm telling you, they are in the building" Jack replied. "So far, my men have found nothing" the older man declared. The former agent stopped walking and it took a few seconds for Lynch to notice. He sighed. "I know you're insistent they're in the building – and frankly, I believe you, but I need to see evidence soon" he said. "They're there, I know they are..." Jack started, only to be interrupted by his phone ringing. "Excuse me" he told Lynch, before snapping the phone open. "This is.." he started, only to be interrupted by the voice of Baylis. " _Jack! Thank god, we have a problem!_ ".

"Mr Baylis? Wha.. what's wrong?" the former agent asked, being increasingly concerned. " _It's.._ it's the President, Jack! I don't know what caused it, but he's fallen unconscious!" the NSA finally said. Jack was speechless. "What happened?". " _I don't know –_ the doctor thinks he's fallen into some kind of coma. He's got a heartbeat but we can't find a pulse" Baylis explained. Lynch watched as the blood ran from Jack's face; he had really hoped this wouldn't happen. But it looked like a reality, it looked like the country was about to lose it's President. After they had lost the First Daughter, the Vice-President, the Chief of Staff and the Speaker for the House of Representatives; whichever way you looked at it, the government was being crippled. And that was most likely what the terrorists wanted. " _Jack? Jack?_ " he suddenly snapped back into it as he heard Baylis repeating his name. "Have you told the Secretary of State?" he asked.

" _Not yet – but if I'm honest,_ I really don't want to. This is the last thing we need; the government falling apart and the only person able to fulfil the Presidency is on the other side of the world!" the NSA admitted. Jack dragged his hand down his face, more out of trying to stay awake than anything. "If I'm honest, sir.. _the Secretary needs to know. And in my view, you should consider making yourself Acting President!_ " he proposed, something that the National Security Advisor was not expecting. "Acting Pres... Jack, you can't be serious! _I'm in no position to lead anyone or anything right now!_ " he protested. Jack could see Lynch looking at him with a curious expression on his face. "Right now, sir, we don't have much choice. I agree it's not ideal _but it would only be a temporary measure. There's not much point in having the Secretary of State be sworn in if it turns out he's_ going to be targeted!" the former agent reasoned. Baylis still looked unsure. " _Besides.._ at this moment, you're the most senior member of the government to lead us. _I can't think of anyone better_ ". Finally, the NSA gave out.

"Alright, Jack. I'll do it – but on two conditions: one, it's only until the Secretary of State is on American soil. _And two, keep this as need-to-know information. And outside of the White House, no-one needs to know_ " he said sternly. "Of course, sir. Keep me informed on the President's condition" Jack said before hanging up. Lynch was looking at him, now completely interested in knowing what was coming up. Grunting, he grabbed the head of security's arm and pulled him into an empty room. Closing the door, he kept his voice low. "President Heller has fallen into a coma" he said. As he watched Lynch's face fall in shock, he continued. "I have no idea what happened, just that the National Security Advisor found him unconscious. As of right now and until the Secretary of State lands, the NSA will be Acting President".

Lynch found himself unable to speak. "This is why it's imperative we sort this mess out and get the canisters back" Jack continued. Just as the head of security looked like he was trying to come up with a reply, he was interrupted. " _Mr Lynch, come in!_ " his radio cracked to life. Lynch picked it up. "Lynch here" he said. " _Don't ask me how, sir, but I think we've found them – I think we found the canisters Bauer was telling us about!_ " the voice declared. This got the attention of both men. "You're sure?" the older man asked. " _Yes, sir. We can't get into the maintenance room itself – it isn't locked, someone is in there, I'm sure of it!_ ". Lynch and Jack shared a face of relief. "Don't do anything, we're on our way!" the head of security ordered as the former CTU agent opened the door and then followed him out of the room, down the hallway.

–

 **House Chamber**

Belcheck smacked his heads on the desk, trying to figure out what to do next – now it was likely none of the hostages trusted him. After all, he said that he wouldn't harm them and then what does it do? Most likely kill two Marines in front of them! Ok, they might admit that it was self-defence on his part but really, that was it. And now it was likely he had no real escape route; going out the way he came in was out of the picture and whilst he had told the Marines to leave the Chamber, he considered it more likely they were lying in wait in the passageway they came through. So that was out.

A few feet away from him, the group of hostages were sitting and talking among themselves. But the ones talking most were the Marines and Forster. "You can't be serious, Mr Ambassador? I mean, with all due respect.." one hissed. "I know it's surprising; but in reality, I think he's right. He's had prime opportunities to kill all of us and he hasn't – and considering the events of today, I don't think it beyond the realm of impossibility that someone did try to attack this building" Forster reasoned. "Well, okay – but what about 10 minutes ago? You saw with your own eyes, he killed two Marines in cold blood!" the second Marine protested. "That.. that was self-defence. After all, you all came charging in unexpected. What else did you expect him to do?" the Ambassador countered. The first Marine looked at him like he was absolutely crazy. "Sir, did you get knocked on the head? I honestly can't believe you are actually siding with this guy!".

Forster looked at him and then the second Marine. "What are you two called?" he asked. The second Marine rose an eyebrow. "I'm... Wilborn" he said. "And I'm Swift" the other Marine said. "Well, Wilborn.. and Swift, it's not really any of your concern what I believe and such. I think this man is clearly trying to alert the government to something and I think he's had his hand forced with this" he said, as he saw the strange man looking at him directly. Belcheck could have sworn the tall man looking at him seemed familiar as he moved back towards the desk. He then noticed something he had not seen before, a grey folder sitting on the edge of the desk. He picked it up and opened it to reveal several sheets of documents, including a very large photo of the tall man. Skimming through the first few sheets, he found something and almost dropped the folder itself; underneath the photo was the name of the man and his occupation. "Samuel Forster, United States Ambassador to the United Nations". The Serb was shocked; one of his hostages was an Ambassador! He had certainly not expected that. But it gave him an idea – an idea he had to think through very carefully but an idea none-the-less.

–

02:26:31AM

 **Washington DC**

Dodging the main roads so that no-one could see him with a clear-as-day hostage was easier said than done owing to the location, but Cannavale had made it; he was finally in DC. He poked his head around the corner, before turning back towards Kim. He pulled the gag from her mouth. "Scream and you'll get a bullet in the head" he said coldly as he pulled the tape off; to his relief, his hostage kept quiet. "There's a car just across the road – I'll be using that to deliver you to the man I'm working for. Keep quiet and you'll get through this" he continued, as Kim nodded, not wanting to get on the wrong side of her captor.

As Cannavale scanned the area once more, he was relieved to see that there was nobody in the immediate vicinity. Grabbing Kim's arm, he quickly ran across the road and towards the waiting vehicle. Kim was about to question what good just stealing a car would do, only for Cannavale to then put out the car's keys from the exhaust pipe. He forced the boot open and looked towards his hostage. "Keep quiet and you'll get through this" he repeated as he slowly but gently forced her into the boot, making sure no-one was watching as he closed the boot. He moved towards the driver's side of the car and opened the door. He opened up his phone and rang a number.

On the other side of the city, Henderson handed the taxi driver some money. "Thanks, mate. Enjoy the rest of your night!" the driver said, smiling. Henderson simply smiled back and watched the driver drive off. At that moment, his phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket, snapping it open. "Are you in the city?" he asked Cannavale, knowing full well it was him ringing. " _Yes I am. I've just arrived._ And yes, I have Bauer's daughter with me" Cannavale replied. " _Good. I'm currently near the Washington Navy Yard, at a Dunkin_ Donuts. How soon do you think you can be here?" Henderson asked. " _I think I know where you mean –_ 10, maybe 15 minutes until I get there" he heard his associate reply. " _Excellent – I'll be_ waiting for you. And your hostage".

Cannavale heard the dial tone, meaning Henderson had hung up, and promptly snapped his phone shut. Putting the key into the engine, he started the car and drove off. Though completely unaware as he drove off that underneath the car was a puddle of fluid. Brake fluid..

02:29:07AM

–

02:32:21AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

On the Yuri Dolgorukiy, Divjak rubbed his hands across his eyes as he fought to stay awake – about 30 minutes ago, the submarine had entered the Washington Eastern timezone and it was just gone 02:30am. He wouldn't be surprised if everyone else on the vessel were just as tired; he almost considered holding off on giving the rest of the crew the evidence he had found, but he also knew they needed to know the truth. Their anti-American leader, Russian General Andre Benediktov, was either knowingly or unknowingly being involved with an American contractor. An American contactor who looked like she was most likely behind the destruction of Eastern Cell mere hours ago.

He had to tell someone immediately – he had managed to find a data printer and was in the process of printing off the basic but essential details. As soon as the last sheet came out, the Bosnian picked up the sheets of paper and started to head towards the main control bridge. But as he mounted the stairs, he couldn't help but think it sounded rather quiet. Too quiet, in fact; usually, the control bridge was a-buzz with activity but here, he couldn't hear a word. He started moving slower and almost hesitated just outside the bridge, as it just felt too quiet. But finally, his gut won out and he walked onto the bridge – only to find the dead bodies of Aralica, Chadli and Muratov, either lying on the floor or slumped in her chairs. Divjak's heart skipped and he found himself feeling like throwing up. He found himself standing over Muratov's body, noticing he'd been shot in the chest twice at point-blank range. Who the hell could have done this?

"Hello, Divjak" a voice from behind said and the Bosnian turned around to see Benediktov staring down at him coldly. "General.. what.. what's happened?" Divjak said, clear nerves in his voice. "What's happened? That is a very good question, young Divjak. What's happened is phase 2 of our operation.." the General replied, pulling out a gun as he spoke before raising it so that Divjak was staring down it's barrel. "...getting rid of the deadwood! And I'm afraid that includes yourself". The Bosnian, not wanting to come across as scared of what was likely inevitable, slowly stood up with Benediktov moving the gun upwards so that it was still aimed at Divjak's chest. "What's this all about? We've been nothing but loyal to you, General! It doesn't make sense!" he retorted, trying to get an answer. "Your loyalty is moving and believe me that I felt guilt when I killed the men before you – however, every advancement in the master plan must include killing off people not involved. And you fall into that category simply on the basis that you know too much" Benediktov said, before moving forwards slightly so that the stairs were not completely blocked, for at that point, Dragusha came into view.

"The information recorded by Divjak has been removed, General. All that's left is what he printed off" the Albanian said before looking at the Bosnian, who looked at him with a complete look of betrayal. "Did you honestly think that Dragusha was on your side? I've known you were up to something for hours, but I lacked the proof. What you've found may be interesting.. but it's something we've known for quite some time" Benediktov continued, which stunned Divjak. "We knew this "Melina Dimitrijevic" was a false name and we also knew that it was being adopted by an American contractor in the hopes of attacking us when we least expected – well, the joke's on her. We're gonna strike when she doesn't expect it!" the General explained. Divjak scoffed more out of surprise than anything. "You're deluded, Benediktov! This was supposed to be a mission to hit at the heart of America and now it's to do with some measly contractor! I had my reservations about this whole thing, but I never thought you'd be this insane!" the Bosnian said as he tried to edge his way off the bridge. He was surprised when Benediktov blocked his way, but then smiled and moved aside. As he walked down the stairs, Divjak was wondering what the hell he had gotten into and whether or not he should at least tell the General about what happened to Eastern Cell... and that was the last thing he ever thought about as his body froze and he fell to the bottom of the stairs, dead. The blood dripped down from his forehead as Krylenko emerged, holstering her gun.

"You two, get rid of the bodies. Jettison them through the torpedo bay and clear up the blood. Oh and get rid of Divjak's evidence" Benediktov ordered as he and Dragusha came down the stairs. "Of course, General" the Ukranian agreed as she started to drag off the dead Bosnian's body, her Russian superior watching intently before heading back up to the bridge.

–

 **Washington Navy Yard**

Henderson took a drink from his cup of coffee before pulling a bit off his doughnut and eating it; he had been here for about 10 minutes and still no sign of either of the people he was supposed to meet. But then he saw the door open and two strange men walk in. They conversed a little with the waitress working the bar, before coming over towards Henderson's table. This must be them, he thought to himself, as the two sat down and looked at him silently.

Henderson simply sat back. "So.. you two finally came. Talk about taking your time" he said with a hint of sarcasm. O'Neill simply rose an eyebrow. "You should know why we took our time – getting away from the main complex and undetected was never going to be easy" he pointed out. "I guess you make a fair point – but all that is irrelevant.. unless you have what I need" Henderson said, not wanting to arose suspicion from anyone else in the shop. At that, Hancock leaned forward and picked up a silver briefcase. "Here is what we agreed – the controller for the super-weapon" O'Neill said. Henderson moved to take it, only for Hancock to recoil backwards and move the briefcase out of his reach. "First things first.. the information we agreed on. We would rather we told you that before we hand over the controls" O'Neill said in a tone of voice that suggested he wasn't going to negotiate. Henderson rose an eyebrow, but retracted his hand. "Very well.. fire away" he said.

A few miles away, meanwhile, Cannavale was moving at a very slow speed – in order to get to the Navy Yard, he had to go past the United States Capitol and all he knew was that something was happening that required a large police presence. This wasn't good, he thought to himself; if there was a police presence, there was a very strong chance that the car could be searched. And if they found Kim in the boot, he was screwed. Slowly but surely, he came towards what looked like a blockade – and a police officer motioned for him to open the driver side window. Though reluctant, Cannavale did as he was told. "Good morning, sir. If I may, can I ask where you're headed?" the officer asked. In the boot, meanwhile, Kim had been spending time trying to get the duct tape off her hands and was now resorting to biting through them, a plan that was actually working as she was very nearly done. "I'm headed to Arlington – spending a time with a friend" Cannavale lied quickly. The officer nodded and looked at what he could of the inside of the car. "You wouldn't mind if I could briefly search the car, sir? I'm afraid we're on high alert and we can't take any risks" he asked.

This was not what Cannavale had wanted but to ease any lingering snippets of suspicion, he agreed. "Go right ahead" he said – as he watched the officer peer through the interior of the vehicle, he knew he had to come up with a way of making it to Henderson and fast. The officer seemed to find nothing wrong with the interior of the car as he then walked to the boot. "Would you mind if I checked the boot, sir?" he asked. Damn, Cannavale thought. That was not what he needed. "Sure" he lied. Kim could overhear everything and realized that she was hopefully about to be rescued, as the boot was lifted up and she came into view. The officer's eyes widened. "What the hell...?" he gasped as he found himself looking down at a young woman in what looked like her early 20's or late 30's. In the very short period of time that he had to come up with a workable plan, Cannavale had indeed come up with something – considering what it involved and his general character, it wasn't ideal. But he forced the car into reverse gear and charged backwards. Kim could only watch in horror as the car forced the officer backwards and crushed him against the car in front; wasting no time at all, Cannavale threw the car into forward gear and pressed down on the accelerator, whilst moving the steering wheel as so to avoid hitting the cars in front. Charging down the middle of the road, he saw various police officers diving out of the way and charged through the blockade.

Kim contemplated jumping out of the boot and getting away from her captor but the car was going too fast; instead, all she could do was watch the scene go further and further away, though she did catch what looked like a bolt of lightning in the night-led sky.

–

02:40:12AM

 **House Chamber**

"You're absolutely sure you want to do this? One last check" Belcheck asked Forster, who nodded. "It's like you said earlier, you asked us to trust you and I am trusting you" he said.

The Serb had come up with the idea of using the United States Ambassador as a human shield, though not in the context that people might think when given the suggestion of "human shield" - considering that the passageway back to the tunnels under the Capitol Building could still be filled with Marines waiting for him to make the wrong move, he would be insane for him to try and go through the tunnels on his own. However, if he had the Ambassador with him, he could just as easily get through the tunnels and not only save his life, but also that of such an important man. He cared little for the United Nations in all honesty, but it doesn't mean he should lose his life because of certain circumstances – it was like with the President in London. The plan seemed full-proof, but he seriously thought that the Ambassador himself would take serious issue with it. Only he didn't.

When he tried to outline the plan, he found the Ambassador to be very supportive of not just him, but the plan as well. He agreed it was a bit risky and whilst the two Marines and the woman who appeared very close to him protested his involvement, he made it clear he was willing to take the chance; it also emerged that whilst the other hostages may have been a bit sceptical of Belcheck's intentions, Forster believed that his actions had indeed saved them all from the canisters.

"Alright, let's do this" the Serb said as he checked his gun – and realized it was full of blanks! He quickly looked up towards the Marines, who were now standing and watching. "You might wanna check your men; seems I didn't kill them" he said. Wilborn rose an eyebrow and walked towards one of the "bodies" on the floor; feeling around for bullets, he was surprised to find nothing but blanks. And then in a move that he didn't seem coming, the Marine's eyes shot wide open. "Wha... what happened?" he asked Wilborn, who looked up at Belcheck more out of guilt. He hadn't killed anyone. "We should move" the Serb said quietly to the Ambassador, but not before swapping his blanks gun out for one of the Marine's pistols. Forster quietly opened the door to the passageway and started to walk inside – as Belcheck had expected, there were several Marines waiting though some weren't expecting to see the Ambassador. Some were almost ready to lower their weapons, but then they spotted the captor behind him and holding a gun. "Don't do anything. Please. Just let him past" Forster said, almost pleading with them. Finally, they seemed to do as he asked and at that, Belcheck pushed the Ambassador forward whilst keeping his head down and out of view. They moved slowly forward, the Marines just watching as they were unwilling to harm the Ambassador. However, the Marine that was holding the detonator for the C4 had other ideas – he quietly checked his gun and moved to fire, completely unspotted. He was going to take down the hostage-taker and nothing was going to stop him.

Only Wilborn did spot him. He realized what he was going to do and grabbed the gun filled with blanks. "Mr Ambassador, GET DOWN!" he screamed and in the split second that followed, Belcheck forced Forster to the ground. Wilborn fired the gun and managed to disarm the Marine about to shoot – but whilst the gun flew out of his hand, the detonator to the C4 did not. Somehow, Belcheck saw the detonator and putting two and two together, he dropped his gun and hauled Forster to his feet, dragging him down the passageway. As the Marine fell to the ground, he pressed down on the detonator. Within seconds, the explosives went off and explosions filled the passageway – Wilborn was forced off his feet as a shockwave entered the House Chamber whilst the passageway itself almost looked like it was collapsing with the roof caving in and chasing after Belcheck and Forster as it did. Finally, mere seconds after the first explosion, the two made it out of the passageway and they threw themselves to the ground to avoid the dust that clattered them.

Slowly but surely, the Serb rose his head up and turned around to see what remained of the passageway, now caved in at where they had exited. By a stroke of what was either blind luck or misfortune, no-one had seen his hand. "Come on, we have to go!" he said as he again hauled the Ambassador to his feet. "Where.. where are we going?" he spluttered. "We have unfinished business" Belcheck muttered as the two ran off.

–

 **United States Capitol**

"This is Mr Lynch calling Marine Commando Group #36! Someone, come in, please!"

Outside the maintenance room, everyone had just about heard the C4 exploding in the tunnels and Lynch's blood had instantly ran cold. Despite repeatedly radioing the Marines and even the Secret Service agents, he had not gotten a single response.

Inside the maintenance room, meanwhile, Pederson, Montanner and Semovic had heard everything. "What could have happened?" Pederson asked as he found himself eyeing the canisters. "I don't know, but we can't just stay here with THEM sitting where they are" Montanner declared and he got up, heading towards the barricade he had set up. "You.. you can't be serious going out there!" Semovic protested. "Maybe not, but I don't really want to stay around with the canisters where they are! You heard the explosions and yet you want to stay here of your own accord?!" Montanner retorted as he started to push the tables out of the way of the door. Outside, Jack was overseeing the operation to storm the maintenance room and watched a security officer secure a block of C4 onto the wall, all whilst watching Lynch get more and more worried at the lack of response from the Marines.

"It's ready, sir" the officer suddenly said and the former CTU agent gave the nod. "Detonate on my mark" he ordered. By now, Montanner had gotten the table clear of the door and started looking at the canisters, seriously contemplating taking them with him. But he didn't have any further time to think about it as just a few feet away, a huge explosion ripped through the wall not too far from the ventilation shafts and as Montanner dived to protect the canisters, the security forces swarmed the room. Semovic and Pederson dived towards the door as the forces began firing in a bid to weed out the men. As Semovic moved his arm up just enough to get the door open, an idea dawned on Pederson and he moved to reach the canisters, successfully grabbing three of them in succession. "What are you doing?" Montanner asked. "You and Semovic, take these and get out of here. I'll stay here, at least make the attack successful" Pederson declared. At first, Montanner was confused but then it hit him. "Good luck" he said as he grabbed the three canisters and hauled Semovic to his feet as they ran for it through the door. But Jack spotted them. "HEY! Get back here!" he yelled and he chased after them. As he passed through the door, the security officers charged right up next to Pederson who was sitting in an awkward position in front of the ventilation shafts – an officer hauled him back and threw him to where he could see the officers pointing guns down at him. He simply smiled. "You're too late.." he said and promptly grabbed his gun, firing at the C4.

Jack was almost past the scene of the fire-fight when there was a massive explosion behind him, the force of which sent him flying – in fact, the explosion was so huge that it managed to rip through several walls and destroy one of the outer walls of the building, taking the police officers by surprise. As Jack got to his feet, he saw one of the two men running away lying on the floor next to him, as well as two grey canisters with what looked like plastic explosive fastened onto them. The former CTU agent slowly connected the dots and grabbed his radio. "EVERYONE OUT THE BUILDING! THERE'S VX GAS IN THE VENTILATION!" he shouted as loud as he could, before moving towards the man on the ground, who was slowly trying to get up. "I don't think so" Jack said as he grabbed the man's wrists and secured them with handcuffs. "I have a few questions I want to ask you" he added as he forced the man, who was revealed to be Montanner, up and picked up the canisters before running as quick as he could. As he came through the Main Hall, he saw security officers, Marines and what looked like hostages coming through as fast as possible and before too long, he made it out. And straight into Belcheck, causing him to send Montanner flying onto the grass and making him drop the canisters.

"Jack!" the Serb said once the surprise of the collision wore off. Jack looked up and sighed in relief. "What the hell happened for VX gas..?" a man that the former agent hadn't seen before asked. "I'm sorry, who..?" Jack asked, his mind a little fuzzy from what had just happened. "Samuel Forster, Ambassador to the United Nations" Forster introduced himself. The former agent quickly realized who, but this was the least of his worries as he turned to Belcheck. "How the hell did you escape the Chamber?" he asked. "I had.. some help" the Serb said simply. "Right. Well, in response to your question Mr Ambassador, here's how" Jack said as he picked up the two canisters. "They had C4 plastic explosive attached to them – normally toxic gases would be eradicated in extreme heat but VX gas is different. I wouldn't be surprised if some of it go into the ventilation".

As he said that, several other survivors stumbled out of the Capitol, all shaken up and some coughing badly. It was only then that Belcheck noticed Montanner at his feet. "Well, well.. looky here" the Serb said with some sarcasm in his voice as he hauled the man to his feet. Montanner simply glared daggers at him, as Jack scanned the area for the survivors. He frowned as he couldn't see Yanes or Lynch at all. He ran back towards one of the outside windows and peered in, hoping to see them – but whilst he couldn't see either of them, he could see several collapsed bodies with some struggling to breathe. The results of the VX gas. "Bauer!" he heard his surname being called and he noticed Yanes coming out, a Marine on his shoulder. "I think I got out just in time" the agent said as he surveyed the number of people already outside. "Did you see Mr Lynch at all?" Jack asked and Yanes shook his head. "If I'm honest, I doubt he's still alive; no-one could still be in there and still breathing. I barely got out with my life" he said.

"Damn it!" Jack hissed under his breath and he looked out at what he could of the surrounding area – unaware that just around the corner was Semovic, still clutching a canister of VX gas.

–

02:47:23AM

 **Washington Navy Yard**

Henderson scanned over several sheets of paper and placed them down on the table. "Seems completely in order – again, can you now give me the briefcase?" he asked, with a tinge of annoyance in his voice.

"All in good time, son. Besides, you wouldn't be too happy if you got the wrong information by mistake" O'Neill reasoned, trying to sound as passive as he could. "Wrong informat...? I've looked over this several times – how could I end with false information?" Henderson pointed out. O'Neill and Hancock simply looked at each other before looking back at the man opposite them. "Very valid point – very well, you can have the briefcase" Hancock said, finally handing over the briefcase. Henderson looked it over and would have started to open it if he hadn't been interrupted by O'Neill coughing. He sighed and glared at the duo. "What... now?" he said, now starting to lose patience. "You'll need this" O'Neill explained and gave him a folded sheet of paper with the numbers 2-2-1-1-6-3 on it. Henderson looked at the briefcase and noticed there was a number lock combination on it – he quickly realized the folded sheet was the combination. He gave them a sheepish look. "Sorry.." he said. Hancock shrugged. "You've had a long few hours. It's completely okay to be snappy" he reasoned. As Henderson began unlocking the combination, O'Neill started glancing at his watch.

Just outside the Navy Yard was a long stretch of road marked as 10th Street South-East, with the Yard not too far off on the South-West. Coming down the road from the very north at high speeds was the car Cannavale was driving – he could just-about make out the Dunkin' Donuts shop at the end of the road. All he had to do was abandon the car and leg it into the shop before anyone realized. Knowing he was going rather fast, he started to press down on the brake pedal.. but the car didn't slow. He tried again. Nothing. And again. Nothing. The car had no brakes! It was charging straight forward and with no way of stopping it. "GOD-DAMN IT!" he swore as the car charged down the street and veered to the right... straight into the Dunkin' Donuts shop – Henderson had just got the final part of the combination unlocked when he saw what was happening and ducked for cover as the car slammed into the shop. The briefcase went flying as the car smashed into the main wall, finally coming to a complete stop, whilst Hancock and O'Neill were sent flying into one of the outer walls by the impact.

As Henderson struggled to his feet, he noticed Cannavale clambering out, battered and bruised. "Cannavale? How..?" he said in complete shock before coming to his aid. Whilst this was happening, Kim emerged from the open boot – her head covered in blood and her shoulder sore. She practically fell out of the boot and struggled out of the shop, all this completely unnoticed by either of the two men. Henderson contemplated picking up the briefcase but decided against it, as it helped his associate out of the remains of the shop – whilst O'Neill crawled towards the now open briefcase, which revealed a bomb inside. Kim forced herself around the corner and back onto 11th Street South-East and out of sight of Henderson, who helped Cannavale out of the shop-proper.. just as O'Neill reached the bomb and activated it. Within seconds, a massive explosion ripped through the shop and sent Henderson flying. The explosion could be heard and seen from as far away as the Capitol Building, as Jack, Belcheck, Yanes and Forster all turned around upon hearing what they heard. "That's the Navy Yard!" Yanes exclaimed. Belcheck immediately started to rush forward, only to be stopped by Jack. "We have our orders – we've got him. We need to go back to the White House and found out what he knows" he explained.

"I don't like it any-more than you do, but we have our orders" he added when he could see Yanes looking at him like he was about to protest. At that, he grabbed Montanner from off the ground and started to head off.

As the shop continued to burn, Cannavale struggled to his feet – he could see Henderson on the ground near him. But he could also hear the sounds of sirens, which were getting louder and louder by the second. He didn't want to leave Henderson.. but he didn't want to get caught either. As such, he ran off into the night. He needed to hide out before it was too late.

02:51:24AM

–

02:55:03AM

 **White House**

It had been a hectic hour for Chloe – and on top of there being several explosions at not just the Capitol Building but also just outside the Navy Yard as well as the President suddenly falling ill, she was no closer to finding any credible evidence. Whenever she found something that looked like it had legs, she ran into a brick wall. To say she was becoming desperate was an understatement.

"There has to be something.." she thought to herself, but then in her haste, she accidentally clicked on a page tab she thought she had closed – and it gave her an idea. A long-shot more than anything, but it could work. She was going to try and contact her friend, Dr Freemason. They hadn't spoked in years and for all she knew, he might treat her with distrust but she had to try. She looked up her contact details and grabbed her phone.

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

Dr Colin Freemason was bored rigid – he wanted to sleep but he had been advised to stay up in case President Walkman wanted to talk to him. He had just finished scrolling through his latest barrage of emails when his phone started ringing. He immediately looked towards his office phone, only to realize it was his mobile. The phone that nobody rang. "What the..?" he muttered to himself as he picked up his mobile and answered it. "Hello?" he asked, his voice containing some distrust and suspicion. " _Colin? Is.. is that you_?" a female voice asked. A voice the doctor recognized from his past. "Chloe? Chloe O'Brian?" he asked, now starting to wake up some more. "I don't believe it! I've not heard from you in years! How are..." he said, the suspicion in his voice now gone and replaced with delight. " _Colin, listen –_ I've not got much time. There's something I need to tell you and as crazy as it is, you have to believe me" Chloe explained, wanting to jump straight to the point.

"Oh. Er, ok. What's up?" he asked and he heard his friend sigh.

–

 **United States Capitol**

"Yes, sir. Yes, we're on our way back now, we should be 10 minutes" Jack said as he watched Belcheck drive one of the many Secret Service cars back to the White House – they were in the front seat of the car whilst Yanes and a handcuffed Montanner were in the back. " _That's good to hear, Jack. But I do have a question –_ in light of VX gas making it into the Capitol's ventilation, is there a chance it could seep into the White House? I could be _overthinking it, but.._ " Baylis replied and Jack could hear clear nerves in his voice. "Sir, it's alright. It is better to be safe than sorry – it is unlikely in fairness, but precautions can be taken. _Firstly, it's imperative that the doors to the tunnel are sealed up_ " he advised. "Sealed up? But what if there are survivors..." the acting President protested. " _Trust me, sir –_ if there are people still alive in that building, we can't do anything for them. The doors should be sealed!" Jack insisted. "Al... alright, Jack.." Baylis said, clearly out of his depth. " _Sir? Is everything.._ " the former CTU agent asked. "Just get back here, Jack – _I can't do this. And I still need to tell the Secretary of State_ " the reply came.

"Alright, sir. We'll be there soon" Jack assured as he hung up. "Everything ok?" Belcheck asked, having noticed Baylis's worry over the phone. "No. Something.. something's happened to President Heller. We're not sure what, but it could be a stroke. Baylis has taken over for the time being, but he's clearly not coping" the former agent explained. Yanes' shock was evident; now the President was out of commission. It was like the terrorists were trying to cripple the government one by one.

Outside the burning remains of the Dunkin' Donuts shop, Henderson was still lying on the ground and unconscious – the fire services had arrived and were doing what they could to combat the fire, but were waiting for paramedics to arrive. From first glance,it seemed that Henderson was the only survivor. At that moment, an ambulance did arrive, only just noticing the body lying on the road in front of it. A paramedic jumped out from the driver's seat. "Get a stretcher!" she yelled as she rushed over to Henderson – when it become clear that he was unconscious, she immediately started to try and look for either one of a heartbeat or a pulse. As her colleague rushed up with the stretcher, she looked up at him. "Help me get him up – he's got a heartbeat, but we need to get him stabilized just in case" she ordered. He nodded as he helped lift Henderson onto the stretcher. "I'll wheel him into the back – you tell George Washington Memorial to get resus ready!" he replied, moving the stretcher backwards the back of the ambulance.

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

As Evans walked into Walkman's office, he could see her on the phone. "That's brilliant – now listen, get in the air as soon as possible. We need this next attack to strike before anyone realizes" she said, before hanging up. She looked her at her aide. "Please tell me there's good news from the Capitol" she asked, asking almost on the edge of pleading. "There is – but there's also some bad news. Pederson is dead. Montanner's been taken into custody and we've lost four of the canisters" Evans explained. The President looked deeply frustrated at this news. "But the good news is, Semovic is alive. I've just talked to him – he got out alright AND he's got the last canister".

Walkman's eyebrows shot up. "I don't believe it. How did he escape?" she spluttered. "Seems Pederson sacrificed himself and two of the canisters to give the others a chance to escape – and they managed to nab the remaining canisters as they did. But all that matters is that one of them made it out and with a canister. We can still move ahead!" Evans pointed out. Walkman nodded in relief. "That's true – and we're still on schedule as well" she said. Evans nodded himself and moved to head back out of the office, only to stop and turn back around. "Out of interest.. when you saw "get in the air", what did you mean?" he asked. Walkman simply stared at him with a blank face and then smirked. "You'll see – when the pilot arrives" she said before standing up and heading to the view-screen behind her.

–

 **New York**

Currently positioned on the New York coastline were several Naval vessel - three battle-ships and a lone carrier. And on that carrier, a lone United States Navy fighter jet was rising up from below-level and onto the runway. " _Alright, Gillingham, you're cleared for take-off. Good luck with your patrol, but be back in an hour_ " a voice crackled over the plan's radio. "Roger that, Commander" the pilot, called Gillingham, agreed as he began his pre-flight checklist. Only when it came to setting the flight path, he locked in a course. For Washington DC. Soon after, the checklist was completed and Gillingham prepared to lift off.

The commander in the carrier's main bridge watched as the plane took off, completely unaware of the pilot's true intentions. As the jet entered the skies above New York, Gillingham smiled to himself. "Washington DC... here I come" he said quietly as he moved up to 25,000 feet and beyond.

–

03:00:00AM

* * *

And we are now two-thirds of the way through the story - things are really starting to hot up in more ways than one!

And also, be honest about this chapter; looking back, it does seem rather rushed in areas which is probably more down to the fact I was trying to cover a ton of things in such a short period of time. But what do you think?

Next chapter will be up at some point; not too sure when.


	17. 17: 3am - 4am (WET)

SO... it is here. Hour 17. A massive storm is on the horizon (and yes that's a double meaning ;) . Lol) and things are about to either get better or get considerably worse. Take your pick, but considering it's 24, things always get worse before they get better. Enjoy the chapter!

 **DISCLAIMER: See Chapter 1.**

* * *

17: 3am – 4am (W.E.T):

 **The following takes place between 3am and 4am, Washington Eastern Time:**

–

03:00:01AM

 **White House**

"Just give it straight to me, Doctor Burton – how is President Heller?" Baylis asked as he and the White House's doctor walked into the building's medical wing. The doctor, called Burton, sighed and appeared somewhat reluctant to have to say. "President Heller... he's suffered a stroke. And applying certain circumstances to his well-being, it seems that the stroke is what sent him into this coma" she explained.

Baylis knew that Heller had fallen into a coma, but he did not expect it to have been as a result of a stroke. "What could have bought on the stroke?" he asked. "Well.. that I'm still trying to figure out. But as we know, a stroke can be bought on if the blood supply to your brain is interrupted, which in-turn deprives the brain of oxygen. Tell me, what was the President doing in the time before you found him?" Burton asked. The acting President thought hard as he knew he had actually been out of the room before he found Heller, but then remembered something. "I don't know much, but I do know he was talking with a Russian federal agent as that agent then rang me to say he lost contact with the President" he explained. "Which led to you finding him in the first place" the doctor finished.

"Yes – but really, the only question on my mind is.. will he wake up?" Baylis asked. Burton shook her head. "It's virtually impossible to figure out if and when someone will wake up from a coma – but I'm afraid it won't be anytime soon. He could be in that coma for weeks or months, or even years!" she admitted. Clearly the answer he did not want to hear, the normally passive Brian Baylis would have smashed his fist against the wall if not for the fact that his phone started to ring; he pulled it from his pocket and snapped it open. "This is Baylis" he said. " _Sir, it's Jack Bauer._ We're approaching the White House now – we should be inside in just a few more minutes" Jack explained. " _That's good_ to know, Jack. I'll see you all soon" Baylis said, clearly distracted with Burton's words still ringing in his head. " _And sir, two more things_ " the former agent added, stopping the acting President from hanging up. "What's that?" he asked.

" _We're gonna need to take usage of the safe-room bunker –_ I know it's against protocol but we don't have much in the way of the time. And also, _we'll need Virgil Cummings there as well. He's hiding something and we have to get it out of him_ " Jack explained. Baylis bit his lip, as using the safe-room as an interrogation room was not exactly ideal but considering what was going on, he couldn't afford to get in Bauer's way. "Alright, Jack – _I'll have the bunker prepared for you_ " he said. "Thanks, sir" the former agent said as he hung up. "You lot are wasting your time – you won't get anything out of me" Montanner said suddenly from the back of the car. Jack turned around, glaring daggers at him. "We'll just see about that" he said simply before turning around.

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

Evans watched with his arms crossed, as Walkman listened to the dial tone of the phone, clearly trying to get through to someone. Finally, a voice on the other end of the phone answered. " _Hello?_ " Semovic asked. "Semovic! This is President Walkman speaking – are you alone?" Walkman replied and then asked. " _Madame President. And to answer your question,_ I'm alone for now. But the Secret Service might come calling as they're searching the area" he explained.

" _I see – well,_ I'll keep this brief. I understand you've got the last VX canister?" the female President inquired – of course she knew he did, but it didn't hurt to ask. " _That's correct, ma'am. What do you want me to do?_ " Semovic asked. Walkman's response was immediate, "How quickly can you get _into the White House?_ ". The Guardstrom operative gave a face that suggested his commanding superior was mad. "The White House? Ma'am, with all due respect, what are you thinking?! _I'm not gonna get anywhere near the White House, not least after what happened here!_ " he hissed quietly, not wanting to draw attention to himself. However, Walkman kept surprisingly calm in the face of him starting to panic. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Semovic, but I don't think I said anything about announcing yourself to the White House in person" she calmly pointed out. Now Semovic was starting to become confused, but then he realized what she was getting at. "Are... are you saying I go to the White House underground?" he asked.

Walkman remained silent, which he took as a way of saying "Yes". " _I... you can't be serious! I can't just stroll up to the tunnel doors and ask to be let in_ because I asked nicely! Not to mention the fact that the Capitol Building is probably still full of VX gas so I'll wind up passing out..." Semovic started to splutter and he found himself starting to stress out about what was happening. "Semovic. Calm down. Listen, I know it's hard but you HAVE to get to the White House. _Because I need you to assassinate the President_ " the declaration hit the operative like a ton of bricks. Attacking the Capitol Building was one thing, but now she wanted him to KILL the President and all on his own? "Semovic?" he could hear Walkman over the phone, but he chose not to answer. After several seconds, Evans came up to Walkman and silent offered to speak. She quietly nodded. " _Semovic? It's Evans. I need you to listen carefully_ " he said, hoping to get through to the operative. "Whatever it is, I don't want to hear it. I'm done!" Semovic hissed, convinced the aide was just going to give him the same nonsense Walkman had told him. " _Listen, you have to go through with it.._ because at some point in the next 60 minutes, the city is going to be attacked from the skies" the aide explained.

Semovic stopped. "Sorry?" he said so quietly that it was almost a whisper. " _It's true;_ the jet is arranged to attack as many DC monuments as possible – and all to force the President into a room with secure ventilation.." Evans started to explain, aware that Walkman was standing up from her desk and coming towards him. " _...so that he can be killed with the VX gas_ " Semovic finished, now realizing why Walkman wanted him to go to the White House. Evans replied with a simple but quick " _Correct_ ". Now fully understanding, the operative checked the canister. "When is the jet due to strike?" he added. Evans looked towards Walkman, who mouthed "within 30 minutes". "Within 30 minutes – _so you'll need to move quickly_ " he replied. " _Right – I'll find a way._ You'll find out for yourself if I was a success or not" Semovic finished up before hanging up his phone and poking his head out at the Secret Service agents just around the corner. "We're not sure if all the gas has been used up, so you'll need these" one said as he pulled out some gas masks from a box.

In the skies above New Jersey, meanwhile, the fighter jet continued its flight towards DC. In the cockpit, Gillingham looked towards his navigator. Not far off from the target, he thought to himself.

–

03:07:14AM

 **Washington DC**

A strike of lightning struck the sky above DC, as Kim struggled along a surprisingly quiet road not too far from the burning remains of the shop her abductor had crashed into. Admittedly in her mind, she should be walking faster than she was in case the people trying to get to her were right behind her but she was fair to say she was struggling – the high-speed crash had left her shaken up and with a few injuries, including blood all her face and a broken hand. She should try and find someone, but she didn't know who to trust.

The story of her life, really. Ever since her kidnapping at the hands of the Drazens all those years ago, she found herself unable to trust anyone except her father. For all the respect she had for CTU and its operatives, she knew she couldn't trust them fully and for good reason; after all, they had been tasked with ensuring her mother was safe whilst her dad dealt with the Drazens and yet she had been found murdered at the hands of Nina Myers, a mole in the agency. Whilst she did work with them with a few years and she did have respect for those who worked there – Tony, Michelle, Chase, Adam and Chloe among others – deep down, she couldn't trust them with her life.

As it was, she trusted just a few people. Her father and her husband and to a lesser extent, Chloe. She wished she could trust more, but she couldn't. She slowly made her way down the road and spotted what looked like a Yacht Harbour – but then she suddenly felt dizzy. She found herself disoriented and unsure of where she was. She tried to move forwards towards the Yachts but whilst she thought she was heading there by footpath, in reality she was going down an embankment and towards the Anacostia River. At that moment, going past the Yacht Harbour was a boat belonging to the Washington DC Coast Guard; driving the boat was a young woman being shown the ropes by an older man whilst a younger man kept watch. He could see the smoke billowing but he knew it was being dealt with. But it was at that moment he saw a figure heading towards the water. Focusing his binoculars on the figure, he realized it was a young woman, a young woman looking badly injured. Suddenly, she felt into the water. "Stop the boat!" he yelled, loud enough for the older man to switch off the engine just as the younger man jumped into the water and swam towards the figure. He grabbed a hold of her now-unconscious body and started to pull her back towards the shore. "Bob, get the medical kit! Jenny, park the boat up next to land!" he ordered as he heaved himself out and pulled Kim's body up next to him. He started to feel around for any sign of a pulse.

–

 **George Washington Memorial Hospital**

"Alright, what have we got?" a doctor asked as two paramedics pushed a stretcher into the building. "Unidentified male, caught in the explosion near the Navy Yard. No signs of external injury, could well be internal. There's a heartbeat and a pulse, but he's unresponsive" the first paramedic said as the male doctor looked down at the unknown man on the stretcher, unaware it was Henderson. "Alright, let's get him into resus. Get some fluid inside of him, try to wake him up" the doctor ordered. The group came into the resus area and with the help of several nurses, they got Henderson off the stretcher and onto the bed.

Only at that point, however, one of the nurses finally got a look at Henderson – and rose her eyebrows in surprise, though well out of sight of everyone else. "Nurse, get some morphine and some adrenaline ready. We need to try and get him back to life" the doctor ordered suddenly. Lowering her surprised eyes, the nurse looked up. "Yes, Doctor McGee" she agreed and started to head out of resus. But as soon as she did, she secretly pulled a phone from her uniform and dialled a number. "Yes. This is McGee speaking. I have a message for President Walkman.." she said quietly

03:10:45AM

–

03:16:17AM

 **United States Capitol**

To say the weather was getting worse was an understatement – more and more strikes of lightning were flashing across the sky, whilst big booming cracks of thunder and ominous dark clouds also made themselves known. There hadn't been any rain yet which was a relief, but there would be – this was just the "calm before the storm". In front of the Capitol Building, the group of agents had all put gas masks on and were ready to go inside to either check to ensure the ventilation was free of the VX gas or to help remove the various dead bodies of those who hadn't escaped in time. "Alright, let's do this. I don't want to end up caught in the storm when it arrives" the lead agent said before leading the group into the building. And that's when Semovic chose to strike – with a carefully timed move to make sure only the last agent in the group heard, he smashed a nearby brick into the wall of the outer building. And true to his luck, the agent heard. He pulled his mask up. "I'll be a minute, boss. Think I heard something" he said and he moved off to where he heard the bang without even watching to hear his superior's reply.

He slowly moved his head around the corner and found nothing – a bit surprised, he shrugged off what he heard and headed back to the main entrance.. only to then be grabbed from behind and pulled into the darkness. His first instinct was to smash his fist into the eye of Semovic and the operative released his grip – the agent threw the operative into the wall, only to be caught with a knee-break and thrown onto the ground. The two continued to wrestle, until Semovic started to gain the upper hand and managed to get the agent's head in-between his legs. Despite the agent's best efforts, he found himself unable to move the two legs that had closed in around his head – and Semovic finally took action, snapping the agent's neck. Checking to make sure he was dead, Semovic took off the gas mask from the dead agent and secured it on his own head, before picking up the canister of gas and then the agent's radio, just in case.

He moved back towards the main entrance of the Capitol Building and looked up at the sky, just as another flash of lightning appeared. Suddenly, Semovic felt a drop of water falling onto the visor for the gas mask – holding out his hand, he felt more drops of water falling onto it. Rain. "The storm.." he said to himself. He quickly moved inside, as the rain started to fall. Inside the Capitol Building, there were bodies strewn everywhere and all agents bar one were helping to remove said bodies. Carefully looking around, he walked as quietly as he could through the hall so that he wouldn't attract attention – all whilst having a death-grip on the gas canister. He could hear the rain becoming heavier and heavier. "Thank god I don't have to go above ground-level" he whispered so quietly it was almost like he mouthed the whole sentence. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he edged out of where the agents were and started to head to the underground tunnels.

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

Dr Freemason walked out of his office and after looking around, he locked the door – all whilst speaking on the phone. "So let me get this straight, Chloe.. you're trying to tell me that the company I'm working for is not in fact involved in drug reproduction but is most probably in collusion with terrorists developing some kind of weapon to be used against the country _and yet you expect me to believe you when I've known President Walkman for years and most crucially, I've not seen any evidence of a super-weapon in the last few months?_ " he pointed out, sounding completely sceptical about what Chloe had told him. The former analyst did everything she could to avoid sighing in frustration. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. And I need you to find out IF there's a weapon being developed where you are" she insisted. " _But why?_ Why is it absolutely necessary to know this? That's what you're not telling me!" Freemason retorted, hinting that he hadn't been told the full story.

" _Because..._ " he heard Chloe start in anger, but then she stopped herself and calmed down. "Because the city is under threat. A Russian General has gone rogue and he's taken control of a Russian submarine – _and he's armed it with missiles that could destroy the whole of DC and still have some left over!_ " she said calmly and quietly, not wanting to seem desperate. And it worked as Freemason remained silent, digesting what he had been told. "What kind of Russian submarine?" he asked. " _A Borei-class vessel, the Yuri Dolgorukiy. And between you and me.._ it's already killed the Chief of Staff to President Heller" she replied, keeping quiet about how Heller was now in a coma and as well as the other deaths in the last 17 hours like the Vice-President. " _I see..._ well, whilst I do have my doubts, I do know that you're very rarely wrong, Chloe. I'll try and find out what I can but I'm gonna be limited with what to do. _Can't just go up to President Walkman and ask, "Are you developing a super-weapon?", can I?_ " he reasoned. "That's true – just find out what you can. We need to expose this threat before it's too late" Chloe requested, as Freemason stopped in front of an elevator and pressed the button for the lift to go downwards once it had arrived.

"I will.. I'll speak with you as soon as I can, Chloe" the doctor said before promptly hanging up. As the elevator doors opened, he noticed it was empty and walked inside. He scoffed to himself. "Super-weapon built on these grounds?! I knew Chloe was often socially lacking but never crazy" he said as he pushed on a button to head to the ground floor, the lowest option available on the list of floors... and then a wall panel fell off underneath the list, revealing three further options. "What the...?" Freemason remarked in confusion as he looked at the three new options – Underground Level 1: Weapon Collection, Underground Level 2: Planning, and Underground Level 3: Weapon Construction. These were options that he had never seen before in all the time he worked here and the fact they were hidden by a panel suggested that he was never meant to find out about them. Curious, he instead pressed down on the "Weapon Construction" option and waited as the lift went down. Whilst the lift did stop on what seemed like the ground floor, he didn't get out and no-one even noticed him, let alone get in. Finally, the lift went further on down and then juddered to a complete halt – the lights went off for about five seconds before coming straight on.

He could hear the sound of moving metal below him and as soon as it stopped, the lift started to move again. Finally, with a gentle ting, the whole elevator stopped and the doors opened. Quickly realizing where he was, Freemason slowly stepped out and found himself on a floor level he had never seen before – at first glance, it looked like a construction yard but he had no idea what on earth could be being constructed here. To his right, he found a large table with a big blue-print spread out all over it; studying it, he found that it looked like a fighter jet with what seemed to be detachable wings. Now confused as to what was going on, Freemason looked around and noticed to his left that there was a long wall stretching the width of the room, complete with a door. Walking up towards it, he pressed his ear against the door, only to hear nothing. Frowning, he pushed down on the handle and pushed the door open without moving his head up – as he moved through the door and closed it, he looked upwards and froze... for he was starting in clear view of a massive aircraft being built. It looked like an absolutely massive fighter jet but he knew that this was no ordinary fighter jet.

After all, no fighter jet would have weapons actually INSIDE the wings and no fighter jet would have wings that would be detachable – and then it dawned on him. Chloe was right. A super-weapon IS being built inside the headquarters and from simply looking at its size and its fire-power, it had the potential to destroy any city in the world. Moscow, New York, London, Berlin, ANYWHERE. But wait. What about President Walkman? He had to tell her. Unless, she already knew. No wonder she said she'd be working through the night as she would be overseeing the construction of whatever this thing was. "Hello, Dr Freemason" a voice said suddenly and the doctor turned around to see Walkman standing right behind him. "Pres... President Walkman" he spluttered. Silence fell. "Er... what's that?" he said, trying to get a reply out of here. Walkman sighed. "I guess you have a right to know. Follow me" she said as she moved past Freemason and walked towards what looked like a series of laboratories. The doctor, quickly realizing, followed suit, walking very quickly to catch up with her.

–

03:23:36AM

 **American Airspace**

The fighter jet flew through the skies above America, as Gillingham checked his navigator. "10 more minutes" he said to himself whilst writing up a list. A list of possible targets for where in DC to launch his missiles, whilst the plane's auto-pilot system flew the aircraft towards its target.

Suddenly, his radio cracked to life. " _Gillingham! Gillingham, come in, over!_ " a voice said over it and Gillingham recognized it as his commanding officer, the man who agreed to let him do a fly-over patrol of New York. By now, they must have realized he was gone. " _Hello? Gillingham, please respond, over!_ " the commanding officer repeated again and the pilot quickly moved to switch off the radio. "That's better" he muttered as he kept a close eye out at the sky before moving back towards his list.

–

 **White House**

The rain was now hammering down on the city and another boom of thunder made itself known, as a stoic-faced Jack made his way into the building's medical wing, where Baylis was standing over the still and unconscious body of President Heller. "Sir" he said and the Acting President looked up to see the former CTU agent. He looked at him for a further three seconds before turning his head to look back down at Heller and crossing his arms. "The doctors have determined what happened to him – it seems he's suffered a stroke, which led to him falling into a coma. No idea what could have caused him to have the stroke though" he said. Jack walked up to the end of the bed and looked at the body of the man he once said he looked up to, clear worry on his face. "Any idea when he could wake up?" he asked. Baylis shook his head. "Doctor Burton has no real idea – he could be out for it for weeks, months... even years for a worst-case scenario" he replied.

Jack grimaced, clearly not happy by the doctor's estimate. "What about the Secretary of State? Has he been told?" he asked. The Acting President nodded, albeit reluctantly. "Sadly yes – what can I do, Jack?" he said. "Sir?" the former CTU agent asked, slowly realizing that Baylis was starting to show signs of being unsure in his temporary role. "Mr Gerrard is still eight hours out at least; what do I do? Do I order him to land in San Francisco, or do I order him to carry onto the city? Do I take the option of making him land on the other side of the continent when there's no need in the long term or do I make him fly all the time to DC and into the path of a possible attack?" Baylis replied, as he started to ramble on about what to do. He was clearly starting to show he was out of his depth and the only saving grace was that Jack was the only person in the room with him. With a deep breath, he pulled out his gun and shot a bullet into the wall on his left, the echo snapping Baylis out of his rambling. "Sir, with all due respect, you need to calm down and get a hold of your senses! At this moment, you are in charge of the country but you are showing signs that you are unable to cope and THAT. IS NOT WHAT WE NEED!"

"What we need from you, Mr President, is a man who can help us get through this crisis at least until a member of the Cabinet arrives and a man who is ready to lead us in the meantime... a man who will go down as someone who helped to guide the country through what is one of our darkest hours" Jack explained, not wanting to come across as aggressive or patronizing but also in the knowledge that this was not the time to take the softly-softly approach. He heard footsteps in the hallway approaching the medical wing and turned his head to see Agent Yanes slowing to a halt. "What happened?! I came running as soon as I heard the gunshot!" he demanded to know. Jack was about to answer, only for Baylis to interrupt. "It was nothing, Agent. Nothing at all. Is the bunker prepared?" he replied and then asked. Though a little dubious by the reply given to him, Yanes accepted it. "The bunker is ready, sir – the man Jack picked up is already there. Mr Belcheck is bringing Cummings to the bunker as we speak" the agent explained. "Once he's there, I want Cummings placed into another room; I've had an idea. If we want to get the information we need, I see no other option than to trick one of them into thinking the other has given up what he knows" the former CTU agent had clearly come up with an idea.

"Are you sure that'll work, Jack? It's like you indicated, we don't have a lot of time" Baylis asked, though showing confidence and genuine concern in his voice instead of going along with it just for the sake of it. "I know that may be the case, sir, but I don't think getting them in a room together is going to work. I'll handle Cummings whilst Belcheck takes care of our prisoner" Jack pointed out.

"Belcheck? I know he's proven to be helpful, Jack, but surely an American interrogator would work best?" Yanes attempted to reason. "Didn't he just say that we don't have time for that?" the former CTU agent retorted, refraining from calling Baylis the "President" to get his point across. The room was so quiet that the heavy rain could be heard clearly; in the meantime, the three exchanged looks before the Acting President nodded his head towards Jack. "Alright, Jack – I'll trust your instinct with Mr Belcheck on this. We should probably get started" he said, though his request sounded more and more like an order. At that, the three left the medical wing and headed back down the halls of the White House and back towards the safe-room bunker.

Heading to the bunker from the other side of the building were several Secret Service agents acting as a guard unit, which was followed closely by Belcheck and a handcuffed Virgil Cummings. The rain continued to hammer down outside, as the group turned a corner and moved into the hallway that housed the safe-room bunker – just as Jack, Yanes and Baylis came into view from the other corner leading to the hallway. The agents acting as a guard unit moved from their positions, leaving Belcheck and Cummings clear to view. Jack slowly walked forward until he was just inches from Cummings... before closing his fist and sending it flying into the face of the British national, who took it rather well as he stumbled backwards, managing to stay on his face. "I had a bad feeling about you from the start – but I kept it quiet to appease the President. And now the truth is out in the open and you are going to regret taking us for a fool!" he hissed quietly, before turning towards two of the agents who had acted as the guard unit. "Take him inside this room, I'll be there to see him in a minute" he ordered. The two agents nodded and as one opened the door to the room that Jack had indicated, the other grabbed Cummings by the arm.

As this happened, Jack turned to Belcheck. "Whoever this guy is in the safe-room, I want you to deal with him. Do whatever it takes, but GET something out of him!" he ordered. The Serb nodded, just as Baylis started to give out his orders. "You two, I want you in on Jack's interrogation of Mr Cummings. And you two, you'll be joining Yanes and Polston in being in on the interrogation conducted by Mr Belcheck" he declared, pointing to the two agents dealing with Cummings to be in on Jack's interrogation and then pointing to the other two agents who had acted as a guard unit to be in on Belcheck interrogating Montanner. Jack turned around, less an angry face at having people watch over him and Belcheck when there was no need but more a curious face. "I'm sure you two can get the needed information, but it would be better in my mind if people that I trust were there, just to make sure the prisoners will be in good enough health for the State's Attorney to take them into custody" the Acting President explained his decision, now showing complete confidence in his temporary role. Jack held back a smile as he nodded, before looking towards the Serb mobster and nodding again, this time to assure him this would be fine.

"So what's everyone standing around for? Get to work!" Baylis suddenly ordered and at that, everyone moved in the directions they were meant to go in. As Jack went into the room Cummings was currently in, the Acting President decided to head into the same room – he was just as curious as to how a British national posing as a top-class MI-5 agent had managed to lead every single one of them up the wrong path. Inside the safe-room bunker, meanwhile, Montanner was sitting on a wooden chair with his hands secured by handcuffs behind the chair. Suddenly, the metal doors began to open and in walked Belcheck, Polston, Yanes and the other two Secret Service agents. He rose an eyebrow at the group, wondering what was about to happen. Silence fell for several seconds as Belcheck moved to in front of the prisoner and stared at him. "You have two choices, Mr Montanner. You can either tell us what we need without any prompting and you'll be in one full piece for the State's Attorney. Or... we can force the answer out of you and trust me on this front; you DO NOT want me to force the answers from you" the Serb explained. Montanner did nothing for quite a number of seconds, trying to present himself as calm and not in the least bit intimidated by the words of the Eastern European male in front of him. "I want a lawyer" he said loudly. Only this made Belcheck chuckle. "Oh... my young friend. You don't seem to get it" he said before walloping the Guardstrom operative so hard that the chair he was on fell backwards. "You TRIED TO ATTACK government property! You are going to be charged with treason, my friend – and as far as I'm concerned, traitors do not get lawyers!" he started to yell, getting louder and louder as he spoke.

One of the unnamed agents, clearly disturbed by what he was witnessing, started to move forward towards the Serb only to be stopped by Polston, who placed a hand on his chest to stop him moving. "Don't – let him do this" he said quietly. The agent gave an incredulous look. "Trust me, this guy is good. Give him a chance, he'll get what we need" Yanes backed up as he watched Belcheck put the chair back on all four legs.

–

03:27:12AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Benediktov climbed the stairs leading to the bridge of the submarine. "Give me some good news!" he ordered, in a tone that suggested he hadn't heard much in the way of good news for quite some time. "Well, since you bought it up in that way General, I have both good news and bad news" Krylenko explained as she turned her chair around. The Russian rose an eyebrow. "Good news first" he decided. "I've checked the firing capability of the missiles – and we'll be in firing range, complete with target locking, by 6am, Washington Time" the Ukrainian explained.

This was news that Benediktov was not actually expecting. Ok, that was a lie, he thought to himself as he was expecting that kind of news. After all, the missiles were Russian-built. Perhaps he just thought that it would take longer because of some of the unexpected issues that they had faced in sorting out the remote launchers for the missiles as they thought it would be rather easy but then it turned out that they had had to rewire every single remote just to get an activation signal from the missiles themselves. "May I ask why such a long period of time for this when it took no time to shoot at the previous targets?" he asked. It might have sounded like a silly question but he had to be sure of everything possible – with them being just hours from being able to launch, they couldn't afford not one slip-up. "The Naval carrier and the Air Force plane – they were all out in the middle of the ocean, they couldn't have seen it coming. But if we were to launch missiles from long distances, not only would the Americans notice and shoot them down but they would also be able to gain an idea of where the missiles would launch. We would miss the advantage of surprise" Dragusha revealed without looking up.

Curious as to why the Albanian would speak without even looking at him, Benediktov walked towards him. "You have something?" he asked. "Yes – and I'm afraid it's the bad news mentioned by Krylenko. I've been monitoring the intelligence lines and I've just found out there have been two attacks in DC. One near the Navy Yard and the other, an attack on the United States Capitol" Dragusha explained. The General rose an eyebrow. "What kind of attacks?" he asked, wondering if they were connected to the A.F.E. "Well, the attack on the Navy Yard.. wasn't that much, no-one's died as far as I can tell – but as for the Capitol Building attack, it's completely different. Still finding out more on it as I search the..." the Albanian replied before stopping abruptly. Benediktov frowned. "Dragusha?" he asked. Dragusha looked up. "According to the intelligence, part of the attack on the Capitol included canisters of... VX gas" he said. Krylenko's eyes rose in surprise. "VX gas? That doesn't make sense, the only people that we know of that are in possession of VX gas..." she started, before Benediktov finished for her. "...are Airborne Cell. Tell me, Dragusha, have you heard anything concerning the plane hijacking?" he pushed for answers. "No – apart from the fact that the flight Hermann was on landed safely in DC. Doesn't say anything about what happened to him or any of the other hijackers" Dragusha said, shaking his head in bewilderment at everything. Benediktov continued to frown; none of this sounded good.

"I'll be in my office if anyone needs me – we need to think of a backup plan, just in case" he said and he headed back down the stairs. As he reached the bottom, an idea came to mind. He knew that there was an escape capsule on the submarine. He walked into his office and moved towards his desk; getting on his knees, he pulled off a wooden panel from the back of the desk and pulled out a black duffel-bag. Inside the bag were charges of C-4, something he had kept secret from the rest of the cell. Benediktov gave a wry smile as he continued to plan out his contingency.

–

 **White House Tunnels**

Walking through the long and dark tunnels, Semovic finally came to the large metal doors leading into the White House. He needed to think up an excuse to get whoever was guarding the doors to open them – but of course, he had a feeling the doors were locked and would only be opened if the guards believed there was a justifiable reason for them to be unlocked or if they had been given assurances that the VX gas had been eliminated. And that last reason was just what he needed. He confidently knocked on the door, loud enough for the surprised guards to hear. "Who is this?" one of them asked with a tone of suspicion as he made his way to the doors. "I'm with Secret Service! We've checked ventilation – the gas has been eliminated. Any chance you could let me in?" he said. Now in fairness, this was the truth. The leader of the agents had gone down to check what was left of the ventilation room and found that the gas had in-fact been eliminated – what had gotten into the ventilation had been exhausted.

Only the guard didn't seem convinced. "I'll have to radio it in – but if the gas has been eliminated, why do you sound like you're wearing a gas mask?" he asked. Damn, Semovic thought; he'd somehow forgotten about that. "I do apologize; occupational hazard. But believe me..." he insisted before pulling off the mask enough so that his voice sounded clear. "..the gas has been eliminated. I wouldn't come all this way to say it was still in the ventilation, would I?" he pointed out. The guard looked back towards his co-worker. Whoever this guy was, he might have a point. Shrugging, he decided to give this guy the benefit of the doubt. "Alright; give me a second" he said and he placed his hand on a scanning device. Shortly after the scan dinged, indicating completion, creaking metal was heard and the doors opened slightly. The guard poked his head around into the tunnel and rose an eyebrow. "Hmm.. strange. There's no-one there..." he started, only to be interrupted by a silenced pistol shooting a bullet through his neck. The second guard instantly moved for his gun, only be shot in the head by another bullet from the silenced pistol.

Semovic moved up the stairs and quickly pulled the first body into the tunnel before shutting the door. Heading towards the second body, he pulled it into a nearby room and also shut the door. He was inside the White House at last – but he wasn't out of the woods yet. He would be massively surprised if there weren't at least two more agents on the other side of the doors leading into the building proper. Moving towards said doors, he slowly opened one of them and peeked in through the gap; true to his beliefs, there were two Secret Service agents there. Retreating back, he pushed the door completely open and hid behind it, wanting to catch them by surprise. "Hello?" he heard one of them ask in a confused tone of voice. Keeping quiet, Semovic silently prayed that he walked into the trap. Which he did as the moment he saw the gun of the agent stretched out, he attacked – launching himself at the agent and managing to disarm before firing two bullets into his skull. In the hallway, he saw the second agent reach for both his gun and his radio but he barely got a hand on either of them as he suddenly fell backwards, two bullets having entered his chest.

Semovic looked around him and noticed the odd lack of security cameras – coast is clear then, he thought to himself. With his gun in one hand and the canister of gas in his other hand, he strolled through the hallway and into the building proper of the White House

03:31:53AM

–

03:35:39AM

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

Dr Freemason had gone from shocked to confused to bemused in the space of just ten minutes. True to her word, she had explained all of the questions that he had in regards to what he saw in the construction bay – Guardstrom was not entirely what he thought it was. The so-called "drug pharmaceutical company" was actually a military contractor and the headquarters was their base of operations, though the government did not know that. In fact, the President had long assumed that the contractor was situated mainly in Los Angeles, all the way on the other side of the country; they had talked about setting up base near DC itself but opted not to on the paperwork, especially following the fallout with Starkwood in the early days of President Taylor. But in reality of course, they had secretly set up the base in the country's capital and employed a very-successful cover-up of their actions by also employing pharmaceutical workers to manufacture drugs.

With regards to the "thing" in the construction bay, it was "one of our latest military projects, designed to level countries and win wars", at least in the words of Walkman – but what struck Freemason as odd was that Walkman told him literally everything. She could have kept quiet about certain aspects, but she instead revealed a number of things – including the weapon capability and how it had both a form of Artificial Intelligence and remote control like they had with drones among other things. As Walkman spoke, the doctor kept looking around repeatedly as he worried that the only reason he was being told everything under the sun was so that he could be killed. Only it never came and eventually, the two came to the warehouse loading bay. And this was where his confusion led to him becoming bemused as Walkman explained that he could go to the police about it if she wished and she wouldn't try to stop him. He looked around the bay before turning towards the President of the contractor, suspicion on his face. "I've known you for years, Madame President – you've kept things from me, ILLEGAL things from me and here you have a good chance to get rid of someone who you clearly did not want snooping around on what you've done and yet you're letting me go? Just like that?" he said before having another look around what he could of the bay.

"Tell me, where's the sniper currently fixed on my position?" he continued, not really suspicious. Walkman smiled and crossed her arms. "There's no sniper, Colin" she assured him. Only the doctor didn't sound convinced. "Really? You've just told me things you've kept from me for years and now you're saying you've got no-one marking me? That doesn't make sense" he pointed out. Walkman smirked and rolled her eyes. "Ever since I've known you, Colin, you've always been a bit of a pessimist. Never believing what you consider to be bogus or anything you think is slightly lacking in truth. Listen, there is NO sniper marking you – if you want to tell the police what you saw, go and see them! I won't stop you" she insisted, right as a car was bought into the loading bay. Colin's eyes shot up in surprise. "You're... you're serious, Jordan?" he asked. Walkman nodded. "I've kept things from you, things you probably deserved to hear. Again, if you want to go to the police..." she repeated. As the car came to a halt and an operative climbed out of the driver's seat, Freemason finally made his move. "I'll... I'll think about going to the police. But in the meantime, I need to clear my mind. I'll be... an hour or so?" he said. Walkman nodded. "Take the time you need – like I said, if you want to the police, I won't stop you" she repeated.

At that, Freemason headed towards his car and got into the driver's seat. With a turn of the keys, the engine started up and he started to head out of the bay. As he drove down the tunnel, the operative turned to Walkman. "Did you get a note of the licence plate?" she asked. "Yes" the operative replied, pulling a sheet of paper from his trouser pocket.

"Good – I'll get in touch with our man piloting the fighter jet. He'll need this" the female President revealed before heading back into the building proper.

–

 **Anacostia River**

The storm was now in full flow as the rain hammered down on everything in the city and surrounding areas – and the Coastguard boat was rocking from side to side even though it was anchored right next to shore. And it was this rocking that helped in waking up Kim. She slowly opened her eyes and almost immediately fell off the bed she was lying on as a result of the boat rocking. She regained her senses and realized where she was, just as she heard a boom of thunder and then saw a bolt of lightning in quick succession. The rain poured down the windows of the boat, as she spotted three people near the front of the boat, who didn't seem to realize she was awake – remembering what she said of how she couldn't trust anyone until she got to the White House. Moving herself off the bed, she quickly noticed that her injuries from the crash had been sorted out which included bandages around her head and hand. "Did she want to do this, especially after they'd helped her out?" she asked herself. But then again, you can't trust some people with your live even if they had helped you out in some way.

She spotted a gun just a few centimetres away from her and grabbed it, before standing up straight and moving forward towards the trio. "HEY!" she yelled and the three turned around in surprise. "Who.. who are you? Why am I here?" Kim demanded to know. "Hey, it's okay. We're not here to hurt you, just put the gun..." the young woman, named as Jenny by the older man earlier on, started to explain, only for Kim to reposition the gun. "I said... WHO ARE YOU?" she hissed. "I'm Jenny... that's Kevin and the old guy is Bob. We're with the DC Coastguard. We found you about half an hour ago" Jenny said. Kim thought back and she just-about remembered seeing a boat coming towards her before she become disorientated. But still, she had some doubts. "How can I believe you? Why should I believe you?" she said. "It's the truth, darling. In fact, look at the gun" the young woman tried to convince her. The rain hammered against the windows as Kim, though unsure at first, looked at the gun. Indeed, underneath the gun's magazine loading mechanism, there was a small piece of paper cello-taped onto it reading "Property of the Washington DC Coastguard". "See? We're not here to hurt you; just put the gun down" the older man, Bob, coaxed.

Though she didn't put it down, Kim did lower it. "What's your name, pet?" Jenny asked. Kim took a while before answering. "I'm Kim. I'm... sorry about this, but I don't know who I can trust" she admitted. "Don't worry, Kim. You can trust us" Bob said. Kim finally put the gun down on the bed, convinced that these three people were being truthful. Another boom of thunder made itself known whilst the rain hammered down at an even faster rate. "If I may ask, what happened to you?" Kevin was next to ask, this time enquiring about the injuries that they noticed upon having rescued the young woman. "It's a long story.. but I think I might be able to tell you; not like we're going anyway" Kim joked, as she sat back down on the bed – revealing everything that had happened to her might seem a little risky but then again, what choice did she have?

–

 **DC Airspace**

Having just heard his pager go off, Gillingham pulled it from between his legs and looked at it: "Washington DC, STM 202" followed by a message of "Good Luck". He knew who had sent it. He put the pager back and prepared to move his jet out of the clouds and down into view of the country's capital. He knew full well that he was arriving in the midst of a massive thunderstorm, which was good for him as it meant those on the ground would not be able to track him as well. Checking his navigation system, he quickly found a potential target – yes, that would work perfectly. He activated the missile system and started to fly the jet downwards and to the left.

On the ground, meanwhile, all hands were on deck in the control tower at Ronald Reagan International Airport; whilst an order for aircraft in and around DC to be grounded had not been issued, the controller felt there would be and tried to rush through the several planes all trying to land because of the bad weather. That had seven planes already on the ground and they needed to get another nine down before the storm got any worse. "Flight 724, you are cleared to land. Runway 5B" he said as he checked the radar in the middle of the tower... and then paused. The nine plane signatures were still there, all clear as they could be, but a tenth signature had appeared from out of nowhere. And it certainly didn't look like a cargo plane or passenger plane signature; it looked like a stealth signature. "This is Ronald Reagan Control Tower calling Signature 6.40521" the controller spoke into his headset, only to meet static.

Onboard the fighter, Gillingham locked his missile on target and opened up the launcher on his control stick – before pressing down on the red button and firing the missile. He could just-about make out the missile instantly going off through all the rain on the jet's view-screen and waited. Inside the control tower, the controller was confused as to why he wasn't getting through to the new arrival. "6.40521, come in! Over!" he said again, only to be met with complete silence once again. "That's strange – it can't be a drone, I mean.." he said to himself and looked up to try and see out of the tower's circular view-screen. But then he saw something strange, very strange – it looked like something coming towards the tower. As it became apparent that that something looked like a missile, his eyes rose in shock. He was barely able to shout out to anyone before the missile completely slammed into the tower and exploded on impact. Within a split-second, the tower exploded into a massive fireball. Which was heard on the Anacostia River by Kim, Jenny, Kevin and Bob. "What was that?" Kim said suddenly as Kevin grabbed his binoculars and started to look for the source of the explosion.

But just as quickly as he had started to look through them, he then proceeded to lower them away from his face. "The airport's been hit!" he said and he scrambled towards the main control-board. "Jenny, get the anchor back on board! We have to get to the Coastguard Station!" he said as he powered up the boat. Jenny didn't wait to be told twice and started doing as she was told as Kim started to panic and she found herself shaking. "It's ok, calm down honey" Bob tried to reassure as the boat engine sprang to life. High above them, Gillingham could see the remains of the control tower and smiled. "Alright.. let's find this licence plate" he said as he bought out a PDA and typed in the licence plate number given to him, all whilst he flew away from the airport and towards Arlington, intending to turn straight back around towards DC.

03:41:51AM

–

03:45:27AM

 **White House**

"Come on, pick up!" Chloe said as she walked out of the small room she had been assigned.

On the rain-sodden streets of DC meanwhile, Freemason was waiting in his car at a set of traffic lights. He suddenly saw a whole string of police cars, fire engines and ambulances race down the road that had the lights set on green. It was safe to say the doctor was worried – not because he still felt he was being followed by Guardstrom operatives, but because he had seen the explosion on the other side of the Anacostia River. He was sure the explosion had taken place somewhere near the Ronald Reagan International Airport, there was no denying or doubting it.

Suddenly, he heard his phone ring – without even bothering to check the number, he grabbed the phone and answered it. "Hello" he said. " _Oh Colin, thank god!_ I was getting worried, you never called me back" Chloe said as she stopped just around the corner from the hallway leading to the safe-room bunker. " _Yes, well about that..._ you're not gonna believe what I found, Chloe" the doctor replied whilst keeping an eye on the traffic lights. " _I'm listening_ " he heard the former analyst reply. "Well I was looking for evidence that supported what you told me – and I stumbled across this... _underground construction bay. I'll need to tell you in person, but it looks like..._ some kind of aerial weapon" Freemason explained. Chloe's eyes shot up as she heard this. Aerial weapon? "Ok, Colin. This is good, but I need to see you in person about it. How soon do you think you can get to the White House?" she asked. " _I don't know.. this_ weather is getting worse and I'm sure the security will be heightened but I'll try" Colin replied as he saw the lights go green and he started to drive forward, only to be suddenly stopped by an onrushing police car.

And it was at that moment that he spotted it – at first, he couldn't make it out but it almost looked like some kind of fighter jet flying towards the intersection. And then he saw the missiles on the jet. His paranoia went into overdrive as he instantly realized that the jet could well be after HIM. " _Colin? Colin?!_ " he could hear Chloe speak over the phone, but that wasn't important. He swung the car into reverse and stepped down on the accelerator to move backwards, swinging the steering wheel to the left to get into the left lane. "No you don't!" Gillingham hissed as he pressed down on the red button, launching a missile down at the road. Freemason straightened the steering wheel and moved the gear-stick forward before slamming down on the accelerator once again. This action saved his life as the missile missed the car by mere inches and exploded on impact with the road, destroying two cars that had been behind Freemason and not only destroying the back windscreen of the doctor's car but also lifting the back wheels several feet off the ground.

Hearing every single bit of it, Chloe panicked and ran down the hallway, trying to figure out where Jack might be – after some thought, she ran to each of the rooms surrounding the bunker before kicking one door open and finding Jack inside. "JACK! I think we've a lead on Guardstrom!" she yelled, just as the former CTU agent turned his head to see what was interrupting his interrogation of a bruised Cummings. Not needing to be told twice, Jack ran out and met with Chloe, who was talking desperately into the phone again. "Colin? Colin, can you hear me?" she asked. " _I'm okay – but I don't think I'll_ make it to the White House. There's a fighter jet on my tail!" Freemason replied as he pushed further down on the accelerator in the hopes of outrunning the jet. He swerved around a corner and onto the main road, only for the jet to follow. " _Okay, don't worry – we need to know what it is you saw!_ " a new voice said. "Who is this?" he asked. "Don't worry, Colin – my name is Jack Bauer, I'm a friend of Chloe. You can trust me!" Jack assured. " _Ok, ok.._ this thing I saw. It's massive, it.. I don't know what Walkman is planning to do with it _but it isn't good!_ " the doctor spluttered. "Ok, that's something, Colin. But this thing, what is it exactly?" Jack pressed, knowing time was against them.

" _I really don't know!_ But all I can say is, it's some kind of aerial weapon. It's... ARGH!" Colin started, only for the car to suddenly lose control and swerve across the road, straight into on-coming traffic. Taking the chance as it came to him, Gillingham fired his third missile, which flew towards the road at break-neck speed... and hit Freemason's car. The missile impacting the car destroyed it on impact and a loud explosion was heard clearly on the phone, loud enough for Chloe to recoil in shock and drop it. Realizing what may have just happened, Jack ran towards the nearest window and looked out of it – he could just-about make out smoke in the distance. It could only mean one thing, their only plausible lead on Guardstrom was gone. But that quickly became the last thing on everyone's mind, as Jack heard shouting and saw several Secret Service agents coming towards him. "Get the President!" he heard all of them yell and he instantly got worried as they rushed past him. "Mr President!" one of them yelled as Baylis emerged from the room Cummings was being interrogated in. "What's going...?" he started but was swiftly interrupted as one of the agents grabbed him. "Clear the bunker, we have to get the President safe!" another agent yelled as he rushed towards the doors. "What's going on?!" the Acting President demanded to know. "Sir, we have reason to believe the city is under attack! Get the doors open, get everyone out!" the agent who had grabbed him by the arm explained.

"Wait! If there's an attack going on, we can't clear the bunker. We need everyone inside!" Jack insisted. "That's a negative, Mr Bauer. The bunker is reserved only for the President!" the lead agent said, only for Jack to turn him around by the shoulders. "We have just lost one of our leads on the terrorists – the two people we're interrogating, they're all we have left. I am NOT risking their lives!" he said quietly and angrily. The agent looked towards Baylis who simply nodded. "Very well.. everyone inside the bunker!" he ordered as the doors were finally opened. Belcheck looked up from his interrogation of Montanner to see several Secret Service agents walking in, followed by Baylis, Jack and Chloe. "Stand down for the minute, Belcheck" the former CTU agent ordered the Serb. As the Serb moved away from Montanner, Baylis turned to Polston. "Agent Polston, I need you to radio the Pentagon – let them know what's happening" he ordered. Polston nodded and headed out of the bunker, as Yanes entered a code that enabled the doors to close

–

 **Washington DC**

"Time for some fun" Gillingham said to himself with a smug smile, as he flew higher up into the sky above the city. As he looked out at what he could through all the heavy rain, he quickly eyed a target and locked a missile onto it – with a click of the launch button, he fired the missile and it flew downwards through the air... and straight into the 3rd Street Tunnel near the United States Capitol. Within seconds of the impact, the mouth of the tunnel collapsed. Then without taking a moment's breather, Gillingham locked his second missile on target and fired at the Smithsonian Castle, managing to destroy it in a cloud of dust and fire.

With the Washington Monument in his sight, the pilot was able to fire – only he spotted something on his radar and veered sharply to the left. For on the radar and coming up behind him very quickly were two similar fighter jets. " _You know our orders – find the target and shoot it down!_ " one of the pilots said over the radio to the other as he started to look at his own navigation system. Gillingham, now aware he was being followed by the two fighters, started to overfly the Anacostia River – he needed a distraction and without even taking the time to lock the missiles on target, he fired one. It flew straight downwards and straight towards the East Potomac Park, exploding on impact. Kim was the first on the boat to spot it. "What's going on?" she cried as Kevin followed her words and saw the explosion. "Hurry it up, Bob!" he ordered. "I'm trying, something's wrong with the engine!" the older man insisted as the engine seemed to repeatedly cut in and out of working.

Suddenly, it happened. Kim looked out of the window and she froze. "GET OFF THE BOAT!" she cried and with her instincts striking before that of anyone else on the boat, she charged through the window and down into the river – just as the missile struck the boat. Even when underwater, Kim could fell the heat from the missile impacting hitting her back. She knew that she had to make it to shore and she swam as hard as she could, fighting hard against the river in a bid to escape the crashing waves that were making themselves known as a result of the heavy rain.

Back in the skies, Gillingham turned the jet back around in the direction of the National Mall and prepared to lock another missile on target – this time, seemingly in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial. But then he noticed one of the pursuing jets, this time heading towards him from the right – an idea dawned, as instead of firing on the Memorial, he instead locked the missile on target and fired straight at the jet. And because of the low visibility, the pilot didn't see it until it was too late. He tried to eject and got the canopy open, but the missile impacted the jet literally as the canopy become loose; the jet exploded and started falling from the sky, right onto the Lincoln Memorial. Because of both the jet's fuel tanks and the missiles it was carrying, a massive fireball ripped through the Memorial and causing it to collapse in on itself. Gillingham piloted the jet past the rising smoke... only as soon as he passed it, a missile impacted the back of the jet, sending it spiralling towards the Washington Monument at speed. He knew that he had time to eject, but instead the rogue pilot did what he could to level the plane and closed his eyes. The jet smashed into the Monument and exploded completely on impact.

"My god.." the pilot of the second jet said as the remains of Gillingham's jet fell to the bottom of the Monument – leaving a massive hole in the crash-spot. With a loud crunching sound, the top of the Monument collapsed in on itself and fell to the ground, landing on the remains of the jet. The pilot took a deep breath and turned on his radio. "Yeah, this is Walker. Rogue target is down – but the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument have been destroyed. Going to do a fly-over patrol until the end of the hour" he spoke into it before flying upwards. Towards the south of the East Potomac Park, Kim hauled herself from the water and onto the grass of Hains Point. She looked around; all around her, on the grass or in the city or in the water, there was fire and smoke. As she regained her senses, she looked sadly at the Coastguard boat sinking into the water. She knew what she needed to do – she had to get to the White House. Not later on, not in the future, but right this second. She got to her feet and headed north, hoping to find a road that would take her back into the city proper. And hopefully, a car.

–

03:52:07AM

 **White House**

It was so quiet in the safe-room bunker that the atmosphere could have been cut with a knife. In fact, the only person talking was Yanes and he was talking on his radio more than anything. "Ok, thank you" he said and he headed towards Baylis, a very grim look on his face. "I've just heard from Polston. He's spoken with the Pentagon – the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument have been attacked. Both destroyed" he said, with a tone of extreme reluctance in his voice. This got the attention of Jack and Belcheck, the latter of whom stood up and moved towards the Acting President. "Do they know who attacked them?" Baylis asked. "Yes – two jets were dispatched to find out. It was a rogue fighter jet, apparently belonging to a Naval vessel docked in New York. And what's more, this jet managed to hit Ronald Reagan International AND the Smithsonian Castle before it was shot down" Yanes replied, biting his lip.

The Acting President put his head in his hands, clearly shaken by the news. What was going on? "Where is Polston now?" he asked. "On his way back, sir. He should be here within two minutes, maybe less". Baylis moved his head up, clearly with an idea in mind. Outside the bunker and several hallways away, Polston was heading towards the safe-room. A flash of lightning struck the skies outside as the rain hammered the glass, slightly unnerving the man. He was just a few hallways away from reaching the safe-room and would have rounded the penultimate corner to the hallway with the bunker, had he not noticed something a-miss. It was the gap between the bunker itself and the wall behind it, where they housed the ventilation system. And the passageway entry-point was slightly ajar, meaning that someone was in there. Suspicious, he opened the entry-point wall as slowly as he could, before creeping inside.

Within all the wires and ventilation ports was Semovic, still wearing his gas-mask and preparing to swap out the oxygen tank for the VX gas canister. He had only been inside for five minutes, but he found the swap to be a drawn-out process as he had had to turn off the oxygen in order to avoid any accidents; thankfully for him, no-one in the safe-room would realize the lack of oxygen until it was too late. Polston edged inside as slowly as he could and noticed what was happening; he spied the canister and realized to his horror exactly what it was. He moved to pull out his gun but then remembered where he was – even if he remained careful, there was a strong chance that he could accidentally penetrate the VX canister. But what could he do? He slowly moved back around towards the entry-point and thought about the options available to him.

But then, all of a sudden behind him, silence fell. He turned around and was met with a fist in the face from Semovic, which nearly sent him flying off his feet. Within seconds, he regained composure and slammed himself into the man wearing the gas-mask – the two fell to the floor and started brawling, with Semovic making to get another punch in on Polston's eye whilst the agent reached for his gun. But whilst he got it, firing it was another matter as Semovic fought to hold him off before using his hands to grab Polston's and reposition the gun so that it would fire straight into the vent – which it did. The bullet ricocheted around it, attracting the attention of those in the bunker.

With a well-timed kick, Polston was able to crush his foot down onto the Guardstrom operative's hand, causing him to scream out in pain – something clearly heard by Jack. Worry befalling him, he turned towards Baylis who nodded to the side as if to say "go". "Yanes, Chloe, Belcheck, with me!" the former CTU agent ordered as a Secret Service agent placed his hand on a recognition panel, enabling the doors to open. "Jack!" Baylis said suddenly and Jack turned around just as he was going out of the opening doors. "8-0-3-6-3-1-9. That's the code for locking the doors on the outside. Just in case" the Acting President insisted. Though clearly unsure at the thought of leaving the Acting President with the government in its current state, Jack agreed and headed towards the outer locking system. "8-0-3-6-3-1-9" he said to himself as he activated the system. The doors slammed shut, meaning nothing could get out without Jack entering the correct code. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out behind the safe-room and the former CTU agent ran towards the source, running straight into Semovic and falling to the floor – but before the operative could kill him, he was shot three times in the back by Belcheck whilst Yanes helped the agent to his feet.

"Jack!" they both heard Chloe's voice inside the entry-point and they rushed inside. In there, they could see the former analyst on her knees, next to a dying Polston. "I... thought I killed him. Chloe came to check and he surprised us – I took a... shot that he'd meant for Chloe and well..." he said, trying to add in a little dry humour at the end before groaning in agony at the pain. "Listen, it's ok. We'll call an ambulance, you'll be..." Yanes started, growing worried for his long-term work partner. "NO! No, it's ok, it's..." Polston interrupted before suddenly being interrupted himself by a loud hissing sound. Jack looked around in confusion, but the dying agent knew better. "No... he couldn't have. I could have swore..." he realized. "What? What's he done?" Jack asked. "That guy... he was trying to put VX gas into the ventilation! I thought I'd stopped.." he gasped. Jack's eyes shot up in horror and he immediately ran out of the area, whilst being closely followed by both Belcheck and Yanes.

Inside the safe-room, Baylis started to hear a strange hissing sound, a sound that seemed like it was coming from the ventilation behind the bunker. "What's that?" he asked. Suddenly, Cummings started coughing and struggling to breathe. Followed by Montanner, then one Secret Service agent and another agent. Soon, nearly everyone in the room except for the Acting President found themselves choking uncontrollably. " _MR PRESIDENT!_ " Baylis heard Jack over the intercom and moved towards it. "Jack? What's going on?" he asked, fully aware of the choking agents all around him. " _We need to get you out, sir!_ The oxygen for the safe-room has been contaminated – someone managed to get VX gas into it!" the agent explained as he tried to bring up the locking code mechanism. " _VX gas? Well then again, that would explain everyone choking.._ " the Acting President admitted. Jack's blood ran cold. "Sir, we have to get you out now!" he insisted. " _I'm afraid that's not possible, Jack._ You see..." Baylis started but then started to choke. "The gas is in the room. And I've started breathing it. There's nothing that can be done...".

"There is, sir! I'm getting you out now!" Jack replied, protesting, but was cut off. " _No, Jack. Don't. I've already started breathing the air._ There's nothing you can do..." the Acting President insisted, cut off from speaking several times by his coughing. " _But there is one thing you can do, Jack._ Stop these terrorists! Don't let them cripple the government, the city, the country... _I believe in you, Jack. Regardless of how..._ you've been treated by past governments, you can do it. I..." Baylis continued before finally being cut off as he choked heavily before passing out, followed by everyone else in the room. As the Acting President fell to the floor, he stopped breathing completely. As did everyone else. All of them were dead.

Jack stared at the viewing screen for the interior of the bunker, completely shaken and stunned. He lost feeling in his knees and fell to the floor backwards, his back facing the wall. He looked up at both Belcheck and Yanes, who had seen everything. "Jack! Polston's dead – did you get...?" he heard Chloe shout out as she walked around the corner leading to the hallway, only to be met with three stunned faces. "Jack?" she asked and when he didn't answer, she looked through the view-screen. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her face as she recoiled back. Jack just sat there, unable to speak – in an act they did not see coming, the White House had been infiltrated. A terrorist had managed to install VX gas into the ventilation for the safe-room, killing everyone inside including the ACTING President. Not only had they lost another key part of the government, but now there was no-one to lead the country in what was looking like it's darkest day. And possibly worse, they had lost the only leads they had in finding out about who the terrorists were. And more-over, the Cabinet was still at risk.

It felt like there was literally nothing out there to help either one of Jack, Yanes, Chloe, Belcheck or any of the security forces in the city.

–

 **George Washington Memorial Hospital**

A few miles away, Henderson was still lying on a hospital bed – thanks to the efforts of the doctors and nurses on duty, he was now responsive though they still had no idea who he was. They hadn't found any internal or external injuries but they still wanted him to stay in for at least another 12 hours just to be safe.

Realizing that no-one had made the connection of who he was, Henderson could afford to spin a few lies including who he was and such and for the most part, the doctors had believed him. He was now getting some rest, or he was at least trying to as he could clearly hear the rain hammering down against the windows of the floor he was on. Thank god they found him before the storm started, he kept telling himself mentally. Little did anyone know, however, that heading towards his cubicle was the nurse who had tried to send a message to President Walkman. The curtains were closed around Henderson and so the nurse took it as her chance to sneak in undetected. Walkman had got back to her and given her a simple instruction - "Kill him. Leave no trace" and as such, she vowed to do what Hancock and O'Neill couldn't do exactly an hour previously. She quietly lay down a roll of medical equipment and pulled out a small needle, already filled with a strange liquid compound – she moved next to the sleeping Henderson and prepared to strike, moving the needle to just above his heart.

But just before she could push the needle down, her arms were suddenly grabbed. By a fully awake Henderson, who snatched the needle and pulled a gun out from under his pillow, aiming it at the shocked nurse's head. "You really think I didn't know what was going on? You really thought I was under? I'm just as informed as you are; I've got contacts just like you do" he said quietly, as the nurse's breathing slowed. "Who sent you? Who sent you to kill me?" Henderson continued, not once blinking or flinching. At first, the nurse didn't look like she was going to answer – until Henderson forced the gun right up against her forehead. "I said... who sent you to kill me? I will not ask again" he hissed in anger. Finally, the nurse relented.

"It was... it was Walkman!" she admitted. Henderson's stoic face suddenly fell and his eyes widened in shock – Walkman? "What are you talking about?" he demanded to know. "President Walkman.. she knew right from the beginning about your attempts to infiltrate the contractor. She saw this as a prime chance to get rid of you. As for your dealings with Hancock and O'Neill, she was in on them. They were never gonna give you what you wanted; they only agreed to meet with you so they could eliminate you" the nurse explained as Henderson's blood ran cold. They KNEW he was trying to get one over them! "I don't believe you" he lied, wanting to hear more. "It's true – Walkman knew you were trying to use them to get revenge against the government. Everything that's happened to you in the last few hours – that was President Walkman.." the nurse insisted. Had he been alone instead of pointing a gun at the head of a mole, Henderson would most certainly have been sick. All this time, Walkman had been leading him down the garden path and had tried on several occasions to have him killed.

"You know, when Walkman hears about this, she's gonna do everything in her power to have you eliminated" the nurse quickly added. "Well... Nurse Pearson, Walkman's not gonna discover that I'm alive.." Henderson retorted and he smashed the butt of his gun against her head, using the chance to put her head into a headlock... and snapped her neck. Making sure none of this had been heard, Henderson quickly jumped up from the bed and proceeded to lay the dead nurse's body on it instead. Looking around, he eyed a see-through bag that contained his clothes; a little battered but still wearable. He quickly put them on and poked his head through the curtain – no-one was looking. Coast was more than clear, as he made his way through the ward and towards a stairway connecting each of the hospital's many floors. As he walked down the stairs, he could clearly hear the heavy rain hammering down from the heavens. He needed a vehicle and fast – and he knew just what to go.

As he raced down the stairs, he quickly found the main entrance and raced through it, coming across an ambulance parked underneath the unloading bay and safe from the heavy rain. That was just what he needed and he quickly spotted someone in the driver's seat. If he was going to do anything, he needed to do it now. He moved towards the driver's side of the ambulance and knocked on the door, the driver winding down the window. "Hey, er... I was wondering – could you help me at all? I'm trying to find a certain wing of the hospital and I'm getting short shrift" he lied and to his relief, the driver took the bait. "Sure, yeah.. hang on" he said and he got out. "So what are you looking...?" he asked but was interrupted by Henderson slamming his head into him, a move that knocked him out. Quickly making sure that no-one had spotted him, he proceeded to pull the driver's unconscious body away from sight and placed it next to the entrance, right next to a service trolley. Moving back towards the ambulance, he climbed into the driver's seat and noticing the keys in the ignition, started up the engine. Closing the door, he drove away from the hospital and then finally out of the grounds itself. As he moved onto the road, Henderson started thinking about what to do next.

He knew he said that he would rather Walkman had no idea he was alive but if he was going to get revenge, she would have to find out at some point. So he made his decision; he would find somewhere to lay low, contact Cannavale in the hopes he was still alive and then after that... well he didn't know quite yet. But he did know that when he was done, Jordan Walkman would regret trying to double-cross him. That he was certain of.

–

04:00:00AM

* * *

Well... there you go. Henderson knows the truth and is out for revenge, whilst the government has been dealt another crippling blow with the loss of a man acting as an Interim President. Chapter 18 will be down whenever I have a chance - but I'll give you some little hints.

1\. Jack is about to make two shocking discoveries.

2\. Henderson's plans for revenge spell danger for virtually everyone.

3\. The super-weapon will be shown at some point.

I'll leave it at that - make of it what you will. Keep REVIEWING AND RATING! :D


	18. 18: 4am - 5am (WET)

HELLO!

I know how long it has been - 10 and a half weeks to be exact.

I can only completely apologize from the bottom of my heart. I've had my first semester of my final year at uni to deal with and I've finally got all the big deadlines in. I have been doing updates on this chapter between end of September and now, but because of timings, I've only just finished this chapter.

I can only hope the long wait hasn't put you off - as of now, I am three quarters of the way through the story and as promised, things are hotting up...

* * *

(DISCLAIMER: Please see Chapter 1)

18: 4am – 5am (W.E.T):

 **The following takes place between 4am and 5am, Washington Eastern Time:**

–

04:00:01AM

 **White House**

It was 100% safe to say that the mood within the White House was grim – Secret Service had been alerted to the news that the Acting President had been killed and now no-one knew what to do. That is, except for Chloe who had retreated to the Oval Office. "Look, I appreciate that the Secretary of State may be sleeping, but can you PLEASE just tell him that he needs to contact the White House?" she almost yelled in frustration before hanging up. She had attempted to speak with the Secretary about two minutes ago, only for her phone-call to be answered by Gerrard's aide – all she wanted him to do was tell the Secretary that he needed to contact the White House immediately but yet he kept insisting that Gerrard was asleep and wasn't to be disturbed. Hopefully he does tell him, Chloe thought to herself.

Inside the medical wing, Dr Burton looked sympathetically at the two men in the doorway. "I'm afraid there's no change – this isn't like the pictures, people don't miraculously wake up from a coma within hours" she admitted as Belcheck walked in, followed by Jack. "We know, we... just had to check" the Serb replied, speaking for Jack. Ever since the death of Baylis, Jack had remained completely silent. Either he was struggling to fully digest what was happening to the country or there was something else on his mind – either way, he was acting completely unlike him and everyone was growing worried. After all, this was Jack Bauer they were talking about; this was the man who single-handedly took on and murdered the Drazen syndicate upon being falsely told his daughter was dead. This was the man who had declared a one-man war against Russia in New York, single-handedly attacking and murdering countless government operatives in the hunt for justice and revenge. This was the man who had single-handedly stopped the US going to war with China by taking on and murdering Cheng Zhi's gang when they were trying to flee the United Kingdom. If he was stunned into silence by the death of an Acting President, then something was terribly wrong.

Doctor Burton gave another sympathetic smile. "Also... out of interest, what on earth is going on? Clearly something's happened as Secret Service won't tell me" she asked. Belcheck almost contemplated not telling her but before he could say anything, he was cut off. By Jack. "Acting President Baylis is dead. As are half a dozen Secret Service agents – killed by an infiltrator with a canister of VX gas" he revealed. Burton's jaw dropped slightly, clearly not expecting that kind of news. "Dead? Are you...?" she replied, unable to finish the question. "Sure? Yeah, I'm sure. Last time I checked, you can't survive being locked in a safe-room with limited oxygen mixed in with a nerve agent" Jack said, almost in a stoic and monotone way. Belcheck looked at him, worry clearly starting to overcome him. This was not the Jack he knew. Suddenly, he heard a phone ringing and quickly noticed it belonged to the former CTU agent, who didn't even try to answer it. Taking action, the Serb grabbed the phone and flipped it open. "Yes?" he asked. " _Belcheck, it's Chloe._ I've spoken to someone on the Secretary of State's plane – hopefully, we'll be able to tell him what's going on" Chloe explained as she sat on the President's desk. " _Right, ok. I'll tell Jack_ " she heard the Serb reply.

"Also out of interest... _why are you answering Jack's phone?_ " she continued. The Serb looked across at Jack, who was still looking out into space and looking stoic. "I'm not sure why. But I think everything has got to Jack – he's not acting normal" he admitted, keeping the last bit somewhat quiet so that the former CTU agent was somewhat out of earshot. Chloe was about to reply, when she heard a knock on the door to the Oval Office, which was followed by Yanes poking his head in. "Head of Security wants to see all of us, in front of the safe-room, get an understanding of what happened" he revealed, implying that the "us" was the two of them, Jack and Belcheck. "You hear that, Belcheck?" Chloe asked whilst nodded directly towards the Secret Service agent. " _Yeah – we'll be along in a minute_ or so" the Serb said, flipping the phone shut and turning his head towards Jack. "Chloe says we should be able to speak with the Secretary of State soon – and that the Head of Security for the White House wants to see us, find out what happened" he explained, only he then noticed Jack was drifting into space. "Jack? Jack?!" he almost yelled in an attempt to bring him back into focus, which somewhat worked. "Sorry.. I heard – Secretary of State and the building's Head of Security" he said though somewhat distractedly. Belcheck frowned but opted to say nothing, instead deciding to head out of the medical wing in the direction of the safe-room.

"Mr Bauer, hold on" a voice said and both men turned to see Dr Burton. "I want you to remain – I want to conduct a psychological examination. Your friend's body language and what I've been told about your character.. something doesn't seem right about you" she requested. Jack simply stared at him, with Belcheck looking at him from behind with concern, before he gave a half-smirk. "I appreciate the concern, Doctor, but I'm fine. Honestly" he said. "Honestly, you're not. I've heard things about you, Jack and for you to not show anything about this... it's not like you" Burton replied, somewhat insistent. "Trust me.. I'm fine. I don't need people checking up on my mental state – I appreciate people looking out for me, but it's not necessary. Understand?" Jack snapped back, unimpressed by people questioning if he was mentally fit, before storming past Belcheck. The doctor and the Serb exchanged one last look of concern, before Belcheck headed out after Jack and towards the safe-room.

–

 **Downtown DC**

Considering he had expected to be spending at least 10 minutes looking for somewhere quiet that wouldn't be noticed by anyone, Henderson had surprisingly found somewhere within about seven minutes of escaping the hospital – as it was, he was now turning the ambulance around and preparing to abandon it underneath a bridge near the John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. As he got out the vehicle and made his way out from under the bridge, he felt the heavy rain smashing down on top of him and made a run for it – the hideout he had found was quite literally across the road from the bridge and somewhere not too conspicuous. As he ran towards it, he climbed up the wall as quickly as he could, before making his way to the back of the building and quietly sneaking inside through a back-door.

Closing the door, he heard the rain thunder down on the roof and made his way towards the front of the building – as the windows being pelted with heavy rain came into view, Henderson quickly looked around to see if he was alone. And to his relief, he was. He had somewhere where he could hide out for just an hour or so whilst he formulated a plan.

–

04:07:25AM

But for now, that could wait. He was angry, really angry. That witch Walkman had been in on his plans with Hancock and O'Neill from the start and it was them who had planned to have him killed when they met near the Navy Yard. He honestly thought it was some kind of outside plot at first, but then the nurse who tried to give him a lethal injection had revealed everything under the threat of death. He was absolutely sure that Walkman had been in the dark over it; after all, it was O'Neill that made contact with him when he was inside so he had no reason to even think that the Guardstrom President was somehow in on it. Letting off an angry sigh, he went towards the window. "Where... oh where... oh where are you, you backstabbing little witch?" he snarled under his breath. If he was the last thing he ever did, he was going to make Jordan Walkman pay for trying to pull the wool over the eyes. He was going to make her pay for trying to kill him.

–

 **Washington DC**

Fighting against the oncoming storm and the rain hammering down all around her, Kim drove past the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, which was to the very north of the land that was home to the East Potomoc Park, in a car she had found empty at the entrance point to the Park – despite all the rain, she could clearly see the city in-land ahead of her. And she could also see a large number of police-car blockades on the roads ahead of her, with the first one being not too far from the main entrance of the Holocaust Memorial Museum. She just-about made out an officer standing in the road in front of her, holding his hand as if to tell her to stop. As she rolled down the window, she was met with a splash of water as the officer came to the door. "I'm sorry, miss, I can't allow you to go any further" he said, sympathy in his voice. Kim was half-tempted to ask why but then she knew it was a stupid question. "Is it because of the attacks?" she asked. "Yes; after what happened, we're not taking chances. We're shutting down every single form of transport in and around the city. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to exit the vehicle" the officer replied.

Realizing there was no real point in fighting the officer and especially considering the attack on what she thinks was the National Mall, Kim nodded and exited the car. "Is there any way at all of being driven by you guys? I really need to be somewhere" she asked as the officer gave her his coat to shield her from the thundering rain. He shook his head. "Best I can do is let you make a phone-call in the Museum and wait for the storm to pass" he said as the two headed across the abandoned road and towards the steps leading into the Holocaust Museum. A flash of lightning hit the dark skies as Kim ran up the steps and out of the rain. She watched the officer move off and looked down the road in the opposite direction; at first, there was nothing but for a split second, she thought she could see something. Checking again to make sure no-one was watching her, she headed down a small pathway between the Museum and what looked like the Sidney R. Yates Federal Building. As the rain thundered down over her and around her, she finally emerged back onto the main road – or she nearly did at least, as she realized it was swarming with DC police officers.

Moving back into the alleyway, she started to survey the area. But when she looked north, her eyes rose in shock. In front of her, or at least several minutes away in front of her, should have been the Washington Monument – but in it's place stood a smouldering wreck and almost a large concrete stump. Someone had just completely destroyed the Monument. It must have happened during the attack 20 minutes ago. No wonder this part of the city was swarming with police. As she retreated back onto the pathway to avoid immediate detection, she put her back against a wall; she needed to come up with a way of getting to the White House without being spotted. Walking was completely out of the question owing to the heavy rain and the fact she would be almost instantly spotted on whichever route she decided to take, as well as that she couldn't really trust any officer – just in case they were working for the person who had ordered her kidnapping. If only there was a way of not being noticed..

But then at that moment, she saw something in the corner of her eye coming down the road in her direction – it was a DC police van. And that gave her an idea. She watched the driver get out of the front of the van and then as several officers emerged from the back from a side-door. Checking again to make sure she wasn't going to be spotted, she moved forwards and headed towards the driver's door, left wide open. Peering inside, she noticed that there was a large space between the driver seat and then the wall separating the front from the back of the van. Pulling the driver seat down, she hauled herself into the van and grabbed a large black blanket strewn out behind the seat, before lying down on the carpeted floor and pulling the blanket over her to avoid immediate detection, but not before grabbing the seat and pulling it back into position.

It was fair to say that this was probably one of Kim's stranger ideas, but as she heard the rain pour down on the roof of the van, she knew it was the idea that stood the strongest chance of getting to the White House.

04:11:44AM

–

04:16:08AM

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

Whilst the rain and thunder could be heard for miles around DC, in Guardstrom HQ, the decision from last year to soundproof the outer walls had paid off as nothing in terms of outside weather could be heard.

The only real downside to the weather, however, was that it was messing with both the phone-lines and the power for the HQ – as President Walkman was finding out. In the midst of trying to make contact with her agent in the hospital, she kept finding herself listening to static whenever she tried to ring the number. In the end, she gave up and threw the phone onto the receiver just as Evans came into her office. "Please tell me the technicians found a way around?" she asked, hopeful. But her aide shook his head. "The storm is definitely causing problems with our systems; they're working on getting the back-up system ready just in case but we might have to wait out for the storm to end for everyone to work properly" he revealed. Walkman scowled in irritation and she got up from her chair. "All I want to do is find out if our operative in the hospital eliminated Henderson, that's all" she said, crossing her arms.

"Well, to be fair... they say no news is good news. I'm sure that she's just not had the opportunity to get rid of him yet. You know what hospitals are like, even in the early hours of the morning" Evans pointed out, though he properly shouldn't have bothered as Walkman looked at him, unimpressed with his attempts to pacify things. She sighed. "You're right, Chris.. I'm just on edge..." she started to reply, only to be cut off by her phone beeping. "Yes?" she asked as she pressed down on the speaker button. " _Sorry to interrupt, Madame President, I've got Dr Hampson on the line_ " Mack spoke from outside. At first surprised, Walkman then realized what the doctor could be phoning about and quickly moved into action. "Thank you, Mack" she said and she waited several seconds before Hampson's voice was heard. " _President Walkman, I have great news_ " he explained. "Go on?" the President of the Contractor asked, now intrigued.

" _To put a long story short.._ it's finished. Project Connaughton, as of right this second, has been completed!" Hampson revealed as he looked up at the winged superweapon. Both wings had been fitted into position on either side of the main body and the whole aircraft stretched the width of the hanger. "I would say I need a minimum of 20 minutes for final testing of the A.I... _but otherwise, it's ready to fly this second!_ " he continued. Evans walked towards Walkman's desk, a huge grin on his face, as the female President took in the news. "You're sure of this, Doctor?" Walkman asked, not sure of what to say. " _Completely, Madame President._ I just need to complete a final test of the A.I... call me back _within 30 minutes and I'll have a definite answer!_ " Hampson insisted before hanging up. Walkman almost scoffed. "It's done – the next stage of our plan is ready to begin!" she said, almost not believing what she was even saying. Evans shook his head out of delight. "Everything's on track. And if I can recall the planned schedule well enough.. we could launch before the sun rises" he exclaimed. Only they bought a facial reaction from his President that he didn't see coming.

"Is everything on track, Chris?" she replied. Evans looked at her in confusion. "Well, is it?" she continued. The lack of response from her aide prompted her to continue. "I... I can't seem to shake this nagging feeling that something isn't right. It just feels too easy" Walkman admitted. Evans looked at her in confusion. "Too easy? This is just what we wanted!" he started, only to be interrupted by a hand held up. "I know – but I have this feeling of dread. Something doesn't bode well and I don't know why" the female President insisted, all while deep in thought. Finally, she spoke up again. "I'm gonna talk to Hampson – I'm putting it back. I want the flight test initiated after I'm outside of DC airspace" she ordered. Evans' eyebrows shot up in bewilderment. "WE'RE GONNA WAIT? Jordan, we have a prime opportunity to test out Project Connaughton when everyone's off-guard and yet you want to wait?!" he exclaimed.

"I want to wait, just in case something happens – namely, I want to hear from our hospital operative before I do anything. Henderson being alive is the last thing we need to be blunt" Walkman insisted, thinking about how Henderson had the potential to blow their whole operation if he learnt the truth. "But why? The floodgates are pouring down, which means everyone from police to FBI to even Secret Service won't be as prepared for an attack!" Evans protested, still in shock that Walkman wanted to wait after so much planning and preparation to fit a certain deadline. "Chris... I know you're against this and I commend you for your passion, but my decision is final. But I'll make sure to note you're against this" the female President insisted. Whilst he wasn't happy still, Evans nodded. "I just hope our operative rings in soon..." Walkman said as she starred at the phone.

–

 **Downtown DC**

As water slammed down on the windows of the empty building, Henderson walked around with the phone next to his right ear – clearly he was trying to contact someone. But instead of getting a dial tone, he heard an automated message. " ** _I'm sorry to announce that due to communication problems in your area, your call could not be connected.._** " the voice said before Henderson hung up. "Damn it" he muttered as he held the phone in his hand.

He looked out at the rain and sighed. "Cannavale must be out there somewhere.." he said to himself.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

The storm attacking the East Coast of America was hammering down over the Western area of the North Atlantic heading towards the East Coast – under the surface, however, the submarine was powering on unhindered by the onslaught of weather.

But on the ocean bed, unbeknown to anyone onboard the submarine, was a radar system. And the Yuri Dolgorukiy was about to go over it. As the vessel's shadow fully moved away from the system, it suddenly came to life. A red light began to shine very slightly.

–

04:20:15AM

 **White House**

In the communications sector of the White House, a computer operator moved away from his station and towards the pot of coffee going around. As his back was turned, however, his screen started flashing. The words "Activity detected in the North Atlantic" sprang to life with footage of the submarine going over the system coming on screen.

In another wing of the building, meanwhile, Jack, Belcheck, Chloe and Yanes walked into the main conference room. "From what I've gathered, the gas in the bunker won't be completely purged for another few hours – we'll have to wait until about 9am before we can recover the bodies" Yanes explained, the news clearly unsettling Jack. "Right, ok" he said quietly. Noticing his lack of emotion, Chloe spoke up. "Secretary Gerrard should be coming through any second" she explained as she turned the screen on. At first, there was nothing but static, but then the screen came to life and the figure of Secretary of State Michael Gerrard appeared, seated next to a window on Air Force Two. " _Ms O'Brien_ " he nodded, recognizing the woman his aide had been speaking to about twenty minutes earlier.

"Hello, Mr Secretary – you're also on with Jack Bauer, Belcheck and Agent Yanes of the Secret Service" Chloe explained, moving his hand to indicate the men around her. Only Gerrard frowned. " _Where's the Acting President?_ " he asked. Chloe, Belcheck and Yanes all looked at each other as the former analyst bit her lip. "Acting President Baylis is dead" Jack said suddenly. Gerrard's eyes shot open. "DEAD?! What... what happened?! I only spoke _with him an hour ago_ " he spluttered in shock. "Someone infiltrated the White House, took advantage of him being in the bunker – they inserted a canister of VX gas _into the ventilation system_ " Yanes admitted, which only resulted in turning Gerrard's shock into anger. ".. infiltrate... HOW COULD YOU LET THIS HAPPEN? YOU'RE IN THE WHITE HOUSE! _What on earth were you doing that prevented you from stopping this?_ " he yelled furiously. "Sir, with all due respect, we were interrogating suspects. We were trying to find evidence that could help us stop the submarine" Yanes protested.

"And did you, Agent? _Did you find evidence?_ " the Secretary asked, his tone of voice drenched in what seemed like a combination of anger and some slight hope. "We did... but then it happened. Everyone inside the bunker is now dead, _suspects included_ " Belcheck said but as he said it, something seemed to hit him. "What is it?" Yanes asked. "I... _I thought it was a coincidence at first. But then I recognized who infiltrated the White House – he_ was part of the team that tried to attack the Capitol Building. Perhaps he knew we had one of his operatives in custody; perhaps he was ordered to kill him before he revealed too much" the Serb revealed. Everyone looked straight at him, only for Chloe to turn away with a thoughtful face. It did have some legs, the theory. " _Anyway, pulling away from that, do you have anything else you could follow up?_ " Gerrard asked, now considerably less angry. Chloe shook her head. "We had another lead – but that one's dead in the water. In essence.. we have nothing" she said.

" _Nothing?_ " the Secretary repeated. "Nothing. We don't know where the submarine is, we don't know who is behind the attacks in the last few hours... we don't have anything!" Chloe insisted. The silence in both the conference room and onboard Air Force Two was so deafening that you could have heard a penny drop. Until... " _Whereabouts are you now, Mr Secretary? Any chance you could reach DC any sooner?_ " Belcheck asked. Gerrard shook his head. "Not a chance. _The pilots are pushing the engines as far as they can, but even then.._ I don't see us reaching you until 11am" he replied. Chloe looked up at him. "Sir, with all due respect – you're next in line for the Presidency! How are we going to stop this threat _if we don't have a leader?!_ " she rebutted. "I appreciate that, Ms O'Brien; but what can I do? Getting to DC by plane is the faster method available. _Besides, I have confidence in each and every one of you, especially you Jack_ " he explained, now having gotten rid of his anger surprisingly rather quickly. But Jack's response floored everyone.

"What's the point, sir?" he said. Everyone around him as well as Gerrard looked at him in confusion. " _I'm sorry, Jack?_ " the Secretary replied. "You heard me... what's the point? What's the point in carrying on?" the former agent said. Chloe looked at Belcheck; this was not like Jack.

"I don't understand what you're saying" Gerrard said. At that, Jack smirked. "It's pretty simple – I don't think there's reason in carrying on. Look at us; we don't have any leads. We don't have any suspects or anyone to track down. Benediktov could well be closing in on the city as we speak; and we don't have anyone to lead us! With all due respect, sir, why should we carry on? Why should we carry on when we don't stand a chance of coming out of this?" he replied. Chloe stared at her friend, horrified at what she was hearing. This was just so unlike Jack Bauer – the man who always kept going in the face of danger. The man who never gave up. The man who would stop at nothing to bring traitors and terrorists to justice. He never spoke of giving up, never at this stage. Gerrard knew this as well, as he had read Jack's file on several occasions.

" _Jack... let me be blunt when I say this is not like you._ The real Jack Bauer wouldn't give up at this stage, not for anything.." he insisted. The former agent said nothing and as such, Gerrard was starting to lose patience. He closed in on the camera he was speaking into, a stern look on his voice. "I am giving you a direct order, Jack. SNAP OUT OF IT! This is bordering on insubordination and I won't stand for it!" he snapped.

"OH, SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?! LEAVE ME TO ROT, ABANDON ME JUST LIKE YOU'VE DONE BEFORE?!" Jack suddenly stormed out of his seat, a look of pure rage on his face and started to yell. "I HAVE DONE EVERYTHING AND BEYOND THAT HAS BEEN ASKED OF ME BY PEOPLE LIKE YOU FOR YEARS! _I'VE HAD TO SACRIFICE RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE PEOPLE I LOVED, I'VE HAD TO FACE MY INNER DEMONS AND DESTROY MYSELF MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY_ JUST SO THAT I CAN FULFILL THE WISHES OF THE GOVERNMENT! AND WHAT DO I GET IN RETURN?! I GET ABANDONED, TWICE!" he roared, causing everyone in the conference room to walk back in worry. Chloe looked at her friend in profound shock: the last time he had gotten this angry, he had gone super-nuclear against Janis Gold of the FBI. Only it seemed he was far more angry on this occasion. "I AM ONLY HERE BECAUSE I FELT IT A DUTY TO PROTECT PRESIDENT HELLER FROM THESE BASTARDS, REGARDLESS OF OUR DIFFERENCES – OTHERWISE, I WOULD HAVE LEFT YOU ALL TO ROT LIKE YOU LET ME! SO FRANKLY, FOR YOU TO TRY AND THREATEN ME, MR SECRETARY, IS THE LAST THING WE NEED!" he continued, before promptly ending the call with a snarl and storming out of the conference room, almost pushing Yanes out of the way.

Yanes, Belcheck and Chloe looked at each other. Had Jack truly snapped?

–

 **Washington DC**

When Kim heard sudden activity above her, she quickly moved as best as she could to defend herself without giving herself away from under the blanket – but little did she know that just in front in her, in the driver's seat of the van, someone was sitting down. As the man looked out at the rain through the windscreen, he spoke to the officer wearing a massive coat and standing next to the van. "I'll be back in 15 minutes. I just need to check in with the White House, make sure everything's fine" he explained. The officer nodded as a bolt of lightning struck the sky.

Inside, Kim could not have felt more relief if she had to – as she predicted, someone was driving the van to the White House on a patrol. All she would have to do is sneak out of the van without being spotted and then somehow hope that someone would recognize her as being the daughter of Jack Bauer. The van started up and as the rain continued to hammer the windscreen, the driver moved off. Before setting off, the driver had made a decision to just ignore the roads and head over the grass towards the White House, cutting about four or five minutes off the drive-time. Besides, with everything as it is from the weather to the attacks themselves, who was gonna complain about someone deciding to avoid taking the roads?

–

04:25:27AM

 **White House**

Jack slammed his fists and then his feet into a wall in absolute fury – the way that the Secretary of State spoke to him made his blood boil. How dare he speak to him like that and essentially try and force him into doing what he wanted? That made him no different than all the previous government officials who tried to use him for their own ends and then screwed him over when they had no use for him.

As he took several deep breaths to try and purge the anger from his system, he looked upwards and saw Chloe walking towards him. "If you're here to have a go at me, Chloe..." he started, not finishing the statement as she knew what he was going to say. But she didn't say anything at all. Jack shook his head and looked towards her fully.

"I'm not here to have a go, Jack" Chloe said calmly. The former agent simply rose his eyebrow. "I'm here to tell you... back there, you were in the right. The Secretary had no right to talk to you that way. After everything you've done for this country" she continued. As she spoke, unaware to both Jack and Chloe, Yanes headed out of the conference room and down the hallway. At first, silence fell. But Jack smirked; and it wasn't a sadistic or sarcastic or even an evil smirk, it was more of a humoured one. "Everything we've done, you mean. Half the things I did, they would not have been possible if it hadn't been for you, Chloe" he replied.

As she smiled, she then bit her lip. "We're gonna have to call him back, you know. We can't just leave the next President in the dark, not over something like this" she said. Jack sighed and slowly nodded. "Yeah – we'll... we'll ring back in about ten minutes. Let the tension and emotion die down" he replied. As another flash of lightning appeared across the sky through the window, Jack suddenly held his arms out and smiled. Realizing that the original Jack she knew was back after a period of emotions that weren't like him, Chloe reciprocated. "We'll get through this" he insisted.

–

 **Washington DC**

The van had reached the front of the White House surprisingly quickly and the driver was already emerging – as he walked towards the main gate, he pulled out his ID badge as he quickly spotted the Secret Service agent on guard. "Don't worry, sir – I'm with the police. I'm just checking to see that everything is okay here" he explained, or at least tried to against the sound of the thundering rain. The guard looked at the ID badge through the gates as he tried to protect his face from the weather, before nodding.

"Everything's fine" he lied – he knew full well just what had been going on inside the White House and had been given orders not to divulge a word to anyone, at least not until either the threat was over or the Secretary of State was known to be on DC soil. As this happened, there was activity inside the van. Namely Kim moving the blanket off of her and then looking through the rain soaked windscreen at what was happening at the fence. Looking as closely as she could, she realized that the van was parked outside when she needed to be. The White House. She quickly shuffled out of the back and placed her knees onto the driver's seat as she discreetly moved towards the open driver's door. It was unlikely she would be spotted because of the rain, but she simply couldn't afford to take any chances because of it.

But as she emerged from the van, she suddenly slipped and fell onto the wet ground. She did well to avoid yelping in shock, but not well enough to not be spotted. The guard on patrol behind the gate noticed this, however, as he conversed with the driver. "What's that?" he remarked suddenly and the driver turned to see a strange woman emerging from behind the door of the van. Already on edge because of the attacks, the driver's instincts struck as he pulled his gun from his holster. "FREEZE! STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!" he screamed, whilst the guard froze in both confusion and surprise, his hand hovering above his own gun. Kim, following her own instincts, started to move forward towards both driver and gate as she rose her own arms up to ensure she wasn't being pelted with rain as much as she was already. "I SAID STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" the driver was starting to walk backwards as he yelled against the rain. "Listen to me! I need to speak to the President! It's incredibly important!" Kim yelled back, still moving forward.

" _I am not going to tell you again! STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!_ " the driver yelled again, though this time his yells were picked up on the radio of the guard... which were in turn heard over the walkie-talkie used by Yanes. Confused, the agent moved towards the exterior of the building and walked out into the pouring rain. Kim, meanwhile, was continuing to move forward whilst pleading and having finally figured out what he thought was going on with the strange woman, the guard pulled his gun from the holster. "Ma'am, please step back! I have strict orders not to let ANYONE in!" he finally said desperately. As Kim moved forward even more until the driver was pressed right up against the gated wall, Yanes spied the situation and quickly moved forward to the gates at speed, pulling his own gun from his holster as he just-about made out yells against the sound of the pouring rain. "What's going on?" he asked the guard, who pointed forwards. Yanes could just see through the gates at what was happening. But something seemed amiss. Namely he recognized the woman coming towards them.

"Your binoculars, quickly!" the agent demanded and the guard fumbled around, trying to pull them from his neck. He handed them to Yanes, who looked through them. And his eyes froze. The woman... she looked like... Jack Bauer's daughter! From taking the chance to read Jack's file, he had also read about Kim as she had spent some time working at CTU, playing a big role alongside Jack and Chloe in the handling of the Stephen Saunders incident. But then he saw the driver of the van right up against the gates with his gun raised. "Sir, stand down!" he cried, hoping the driver would hear. He did as he turned his head to face Yanes, a look that suggested the agent was crazy on his face. "Do as I say! She has clearance!" he lied, hoping it would work. Slowly but surely, it did as the driver lowered his gun. "Open the gates!" the agent ordered the guard, who reluctantly agreed. As the gates opened, Yanes signalled as best he could for Kim to come inside – though it took a few seconds, she quickly realized what he was indicating and ran through the gates.

"Not a word of this to anyone, understood?" the agent spoke to the guard and the driver, who both nodded, though the latter one more reluctantly. As the gates began to close again, Yanes ran towards Kim. "Thank you!" she almost yelled while the rain hammered her. "No need to thank you – you're Jack Bauer's daughter, right?" Yanes replied. Though a bit surprised that he knew who she was, Kim nodded. "That's me" she said. "Let's get inside – I have something I need to show you" he replied, before grabbing her arm and running towards the White House doors. The rain almost seemed like it was getting heavier as Kim was forced through the doors – both her and Yanes were drenched. "Follow me" the agent said as he moved his hand through his wet hair before walking off down the hall to the conference room.

Outside the conference room, Belcheck had joined both Jack and Chloe and the three were conversing quietly. "I've spoken with Mr Gerrard. He's given us five minutes to get back to him, regardless of what's going on – not to sound rude, he seems complete ass-hole" the Serb said, not holding back in what he felt. Chloe smirked. "I've read into him – he's not that bad, he just has a short temper if he doesn't like what's happening" Jack reasoned. At that moment, Yanes appeared at the end of the hallway. Chloe was first to notice that he was drenched. "Have you been out?" she asked as Jack and Belcheck turned their heads at the agent, curious at what the former analyst had said about him. "Yes... but for good reason. There's someone here I think you should see" Yanes said, moving backwards... and allowing Kim to come into view. Jack froze and Chloe almost double-taked, whilst Kim's eyes widened as she realized she was staring at not just the best friend of her father, but her father as well.

"Dad..." she whispered and Jack started to shake. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Jack rushed forward and so did Kim. The two ran straight into each other and embraced, the tears sliding down their faces. Belcheck turned towards Chloe, who had a sad smile on her face. "That's Jack's daughter" she said aimply as she noticed the Serb looking at her with a quizzical look. "I... Dad, I don't... I don't understand! How can you be here?" Kim asked finally. Jack moved backwards, allowing his daughter to see his face. "It's a long story.. a REALLY long story.." he said and would have started explaining, only for him to be interrupted. "Jack!" he heard Belcheck call and he turned his head. "Don't want to interrupt, but... the Secretary of State!" the Serb pointed out. "Set the call up – we'll be there in a few minutes!" the former agent insisted and Belcheck nodded.

As he headed back into the conference room, Jack turned back around to Kim, embracing once again. Father and daughter had finally be reunited after four years.

04:29:32AM

–

04:33:21AM

 **White House**

As Chloe, Belcheck and Yanes waited in the conference room, Jack and Kim finally walked in. It was then that Kim finally realized Chloe was there as her eyes widened. "Chloe!" she remarked and she immediately moved towards her to hug. As they hugged, the younger woman spoke up. "I am so sorry to hear about your family" she said and Chloe did all she could to keep the memories and tears coming back.

"Thanks" she said quietly as the two released their hug. Kim then noticed the strange tall man sitting just in front of them. "Belcheck – Serbian mob. I owe my life to your father" he said, holding his hand out to shake. Kim returned the gesture. "You sure you want me in on this, Dad?" she asked. The former agent nodded. "Absolutely" he said, not particularly wanting to explain to everyone else in the room that he intended to use Kim as a reason to justify his earlier stance to Gerrard. Finally, the screen came to life and after several seconds of static, the Secretary of State reappeared on screen. "Mr Secretary" Jack said, nodding. " _Jack_ " Gerrard replied calmly and he noticed Kim. "You're also on with Belcheck, Chloe and Agent Yanes... and my daughter Kim. And before you ask, _no she doesn't have clearance but you should know that Kim has had government experience!_ " the former agent pointed out, almost hissing at the end.

"I understand, Jack – I have read Kimberly's file. _I have no problem with her presence_ " the Secretary reasoned. Silence fell and Gerrard quickly reasoned that the former field agent was waiting for him to speak. " _I was wrong to say those things about you earlier, Jack – considering what you've done,_ for me to suggest insubordination on your part was a step too far. But really, Jack – for you of all people to suggest giving up... it doesn't make sense. I get that _the US government has treated you appallingly when the country owes you more than it can ever repay, but what you were saying about giving up;_ it wasn't like you. If there was ever a time the country needed you, it's now..." the Secretary explained. Silence fell as not one person spoke, everyone instead looking at Jack who was looking at the viewscreen with a blank expression.

"How about this? We get through this and I get to DC unharmed, _I can take what President Heller did further – I'll be President, Jack. I can show the country who a true hero is and what a true hero looks like_ " Gerrard knew this was bordering on bribery but he had to try something.

"Come on, Jack – do this for us. Do it for the country... do it for the President. _As someone once said, "Never give up. Find a way to make it happen_ ".

Nothing was said, until there was a sudden knock on the door. Yanes moved to open it and on the other side was a young switchboard operator. "I'm so sorry to interrupt, sir!" he said as he pushed his way into the room and looked up at the viewscreen. "I wouldn't have interrupted if I didn't think this was important, but it is! The White House has just received a phone-call, direct from Russia!" he explained.

The mention of Russia peaked everyone's interests. " _You're sure it's Russia_?" Gerrard asked. "Yes, Mr Secretary! Moscow in fact! It must be President Surarov" the operator exclaimed. The mention of one of his most despised enemies got Jack thinking – if it was Surarov, then his plans to escape the Ukraine using the Russian President's tracking device must have worked. "Put it on speaker, let's hear it" the agent ordered. As the operator moved toward the conference room's phone, Belcheck pulled him aside. "You sure that's wise? From what I've gathered, you had a run-in with the Russians earlier..." he started only for Jack to raise his hand, telling him to stop. "I know – I won't speak up straight away, not unless I'm asked for directly" he insisted.

Raising an eyebrow but accepting this, the Serb moved backwards as Yanes headed towards the phone. "You want me to take care of this, Jack?" he asked. The agent nodded. "Unless I'm asked for by my name".

With that, Yanes took the phone off it's hook and pressed down on the speaker button. "This is Agent Joel Leroy Yanes of the White House Secret Service. To whom am I speaking?" he asked. " _Good afternoon, Agent Yanes..._ "

–

 **Moscow**

"...or rather, good morning depending on the timezone" President Surarov said as he spoke from his office, a slight bruise on his face. _"Not to sound rude, Mr President, but we are in the middle of a crisis so if you could explain.._ " Yanes started, only for the senior Russian to interrupt him. "I acknowledge..."

–

 **White House**

" _...how you're feeling, Agent. And again, support from Russia is still open. We roundly condemn the actions of General Benediktov and are doing everything we can to find him for you. But there is someone I need to speak to urgently. Namely Jack Bauer_ " the Russian replied.

"Jack Bauer is not in the White House. In fact, I'm not sure he's even in the country" Yanes lied. " _Please do not play games with me, Agent Yanes. Jack Bauer_ IS in your country and he IS in the White House. Do not try to pull the wool over my eyes" came a snarled and unimpressed response. "It's alright, I'll take over" Jack said quietly as he moved past Yanes and towards the phone.

"Hello, Mr President" Jack Bauer declared into the phone. " _Ah! So you did make it out of the Ukraine after all._ You continue to impress me, Mr Bauer" Surarov sneered smugly. " _No disrespect, sir. Please get to the point, you have called at a terrible time!_ " Jack insisted, echoing what Yanes was saying. "Now now, Mr Bauer... _I take it from your tone of voice that you have not yet told the full story of what happened in Kiev.._ ". Jack resisted the urge to gulp. Gerrard rose his eyebrow whilst Kim exchanged a look of surprise with Chloe. "Kiev?" she mouthed. Nothing was said, until Jack sighed. "Following my discovery of Benediktov's plans, I had to find a way of the Ukraine. I figured getting to Kiev and stowing away on a chartered plane would be best. However..."

" _..in the process, I stumbled across a Russian motorcade heading to the city's airport. That motorcade was transporting President Surarov_ " he revealed. " _I infiltrated that motorcade in order to get to the airport_ – as much as I wanted to confront the Russian President, I had more pressing matters at hand".

" _But not clearly pressing enough as you say – especially considering that you created a diversion to get to me. And then practically order one of my guards to assault me!_ " Surarov stated, filling in the gaps that Jack had left. Gerrard double-taked. "Is this true, Jack?" he asked, his voice full at complete shock at what had been said by the Russian President. " _Yes, sir – it is. In_ order to make my exit discreetly, I had to lull the Russians into thinking I wasn't here. As a result, I tied up the Russian President, locked him in a cupboard and gave his transponder signal to one of his guards before making this guard fly a helicopter out of the city. I had no real choice – had I not done that, I wouldn't be here right now and none of you would be aware of Benediktov's intentions" he admitted. Chloe watched from the side, unsure of what to believe – ok, it was good that Jack was here but the manner that he had described his escape from the Ukraine, that was another story. No-one can just practically assault a world figure, no matter how powerful he may be and expect people to think he had no choice. Even if this world figure was a person that she openly hated.

" _However, no matter what you may think of Mr Bauer after these truths... each_ and every one of you are entitled to the truth. His actions in assaulting me, leaving me locked in a side-room – they actually planned a part in saving my life" the Russian revealed. Now it was Jack's turn to double-take – and this time, it was Chloe who spoke up. "What do you mean, Mr President?" she asked when she noticed no-one was speaking up. "Well... it's quite simple.. that helicopter Mr Bauer mentioned? The person carrying my tracking chip did his job quite well – he flew it right out of Kiev and towards the East of the Ukraine. _And unwittingly right into a trap. Do not ask me how, but Ukraine rebels had managed to lock onto the signal coming_ from the transponder. They shot the helicopter down; the poor pilot couldn't have survived something like that and he didn't.

" _And because of this, they thought they had killed me. And so did the Russians who were protecting me._ It was a good three hours before they realized where I was. Not dead as they feared, but alive and well" the Russian explained, Jack's blood running cold the more he spoke. " _Ok – so you're alive, Mr President. That is good news. But_ I am still not sure of the relevance of this to what we're facing" Yanes pointed. " _That is a true point, Agent. With that said, I will get to my point._

" _Agent Bauer... as of this second..._ I am giving the order for Mother Russia's manhunt against you to be called off!". The news hit everyone like a ton of bricks; Chloe's eyes rose up to her hairline, Kim's jaw dropped and Belcheck looked at Jack with an expression of shock, surprise and disbelief rolled into one, whilst Yanes looked directly at Gerrard. Jack on the other hand, he said nothing. In fact he did nothing. "I'm sorry, Mr President – did you just say you were..?" Yanes started and was once again interrupted. ".. _calling off the manhunt_ against Agent Bauer? Yes, I did just say that, as it is the truth".

" _To be blunt, Mr Bauer, Mother Russia will never forgive you for the crimes you committed against our country in New York City. And should you ever step foot in Russia, you will be treated exactly as you would expect to be_. However, the truth is, you saved my life last night. We may have our differences and I can understand your bitter hatred of me, but for someone like you to save my life, even if unwittingly, that is something I can never forget. _As I said, I will recall the manhunt order against you. But I won't say why – and I expect you and everyone else to do the same_ " Surarov replied and then ordered. "...I understand" Jack said quietly, but loud enough so that the Russian could hear. " _In that case then, there is nothing more to say._ Other than good luck, Agent Bauer. And should you need help, we will gladly assist" the Russian President replied before hanging up. As the dialtone filled the room, Jack turned his back on the viewscreen. No-one knew what to say to that. Russia was calling off it's manhunt against the former agent. That was something no-one expected. " _Jack?_ " Gerrard asked. No reply. " _Jack. What now?_ " the Secretary asked again. Finally, Jack sighed and turned back around. His eyes suddenly had a fire inside them.

"Agent Yanes, does the White House have any form of long-scale tracking system? Old or new?" he asked. "Er.. we do. But we would have been told if something was picked up on the seabed" the agent spluttered. "Follow up on that, have Chloe assist if need-be!" Jack ordered as he turned to the switchboard operator. "Find the rest of the Secret Service. Tell them to be prepared, they may be needed".

" _JACK?!_ " Gerrard almost yelled, wondering what on earth was happening. Jack looked back towards the viewscreen. "We're gonna find that submarine, we're gonna find out who their American contacts are and we're gonna stop them! No-one's going to attack this country, not whilst I'm here!" he declared. He felt like a new person; the news from Moscow had awoken something inside of him. The Secretary gave an uneasy smile that then developed into a confident one. "That's what I want to hear, Jack. I'll try to get to DC as soon as I can" he said before the screen went to static, signalling he had ended the video call.

Jack turned to the group. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" he declared as he made his way of the conference room. Quickly realizing what was happening, each and every one of Chloe, Kim, Yanes, Belcheck and the switchboard operator followed him.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Onboard the submarine, a hand pulled a block of C4 plastic explosive from a bag and secured it onto the wall firmly. The hand belonged to Benediktov, who looked along the submarine interior intently – whilst he obviously could not see the whole of the inside of the Yuri Dolgorukiy from his position, he could see 2 more blocks of C4 plastic explosive from where he stood and he also knew that a further five were positioned all over the vessel.

He wasn't stupid to put the blocks anywhere near the vital systems of the submarine, only in places where the vessel would still be largely intact even if detonated. And besides, it was only a backup plan in case the Americans somehow caught onto their location.

" _General Benediktov, come in!_ " he heard the voice of his Ukrainian comrade from his radio headset and moved to pick it up, not bothering to put it on his head but speaking directly into the microphone itself instead. "Report, Krylenko" he said calmly. " _I have good news, sir – I'm pushing the engines as hard as I can._ We are now just two hours from the DC coastline!" the Ukraine woman explained. The General rose an eyebrow. "I see.. _as much as I'm happy this is the case, is there not a chance of this vessel conking out?_ " he reasoned. "There's no fear of that, General!" Dragusha waded into the conversation. " _Besides, if we can reach a certain point en-route, then we could fire the missiles into DC!_ ".

But much to the surprise of both of them, the Russia gave a reply they were not expecting. "The story and ideals seem to be changing every hour – _first I'm told we have to wait until we're right on top of DC to fire, then I'm told we can do it from further away but not for several hours and now you're_ telling me it can be done at a certain point that is even further away. Why all the changes?" he reasonably pointed out. Krylenko looked at Dragusha; Benediktov did have a point. "...Plans always change, sir. That's the honest truth. The main aim will stay the same, but the rough time-points I've mentioned are just that, rough time-points. We're not trying to second-guess you, sir, we're just taking advantage of the time-points" the Albanian finally said. But then he heard laughing. "It's okay, son. I have no problem with the time-points changing. I was just testing you" the Russian insisted. The two operatives on the bridge gave each other a look of bewilderment. "Sir?" Krylenko spluttered.

" _Listen, what with these changes, we need to take advantage and lure the Americans into a trap._ What better way than make them think they're on top of finding us when in fact we can potentially ambush them?" Benediktov reasoned. He did have a point, Dragusha thought to himself. " _I'm coming up to the bridge. Any issues, we can discuss_ " the General said as he felt around the bag to make sure there were no more blocks of C4. And they weren't.

–

 **White House**

"Your task is simple – use whatever means you find necessary, I don't care what, but you need to find the Russian submarine K-535 Yuri Dolgorukiy!" Chloe declared to the communication sector of the White House, all whilst a series of photos of the aforementioned submarine was shown on the screen behind her. Belcheck and the switchboard operator watched her intently from one of the many entry points to the sector. "Get to work!"

Walking down one of the building halls, meanwhile, were Jack and Yanes, both heavily in discussion with each other. "Jack, there's one thing we're forgetting – we still don't have a President!" the Secret Service agent pointed out reasonably. Jack sighed; that was true. "I know that, but who can take that place? None of us are remotely qualified and the Secretary of State is still in the air. We can't have someone swore in as President when he's not even on our soil!" he replied, also making a valid point.

"Then who do you suggest?" Yanes replied. The former CTU agent turned his back, deep in thought. And a suggestion dawned. "I have an idea! Follow me!" he said before running down the hall. Yanes scrambled to catch up with him. "What are you thinking?" he asked, as they slowed to a halt outside where Chloe was. "I need to speak with someone on the switchboard – there's a guy living on Capitol Hill who's worked with former Presidents for years. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to fill the interim" Jack revealed, but keeping this person's identity secret. "Who?" Yanes asked, puzzled. Jack turned and gave a wry smile. "You'll see".

Belcheck was watching over Chloe from a distance as she set to work ordering the analysts of the White House around and telling them what to do – he suddenly heard footsteps behind and he turned. Behind him was Kim, who seemed a little uneasy. "You're... you're Serbian, right?" she asked slowly. The Serbian mobster rose an eyebrow and nodded. Kim flinched at that. "I'm sorry – I've had some bad experiences with Serbians" she admitted, trying really hard not to remember the events of that awful day when she and her family become involved with the revenge plot of the Drazen family, all of which culminated in the death of her mother. "I understand how you feel – your father told me about his dealings with the Drazen's. As a Serbian, I had to endure them in my youth" Belcheck replied. Kim looked at him. "My dad told you?" she asked, curiosity in her voice. "When I worked with your father, he revealed a lot of things – in the days after he first saved my life, when we were working to bring down Karl Rask, when we were fighting to save President Heller in London.." the mobster explained.

Kim looked up at this. "Wait? That was my dad?" she asked. She knew some of what happened in London, including the various missile attacks. Since it was public knowledge that Heller had been there, it couldn't be a coincidence they were linked and now she knew that his life had been saved because of the actions of her father. Again. "He does care about you, more than you think. He talked for hours on end about you in your youth when we were making our way to London. Including the time you took some scissors to your hair. He had to take you to the barbershop to fix it" he continued.

Kim smirked and resisted the urge to giggle; she remembered that well. When she was 10, her mother refused to let her get her long hair cut, to the point it went down to her waist. Fed up, she took some kitchen scissors to it and tried to make it more reasonable. But like most children, she wasn't skilled in cutting hair and ended up making a mess of it. Thankfully, Jack was home from CIA duties at the time and upon seeing what happened, he took her to try and fix it before Teri found out. But when the salon options failed, he was forced to take her to the local barbershop down-town. Thankfully, the owner's niece had just started there and was more than willing to fix it. Of course, the end result was a short haircut that Teri hit the roof about, but Jack covered for his daughter.

"And from what I believe, you've had a second child. A new addition to a young family. Congratulations" the Serb mobster quickly added in. Kim expressed some surprise that he knew that; that meant Jack knew, but how he knew was unclear. "Thank..." she started before stopping, realization dawning. "What's wrong?" Belcheck asked. "My... my family. They're gonna be worried sick that I've not spoken to them!" she replied. The Serb looked closely at her and gave her a quizzical look as if to say "carry on". "My husband took my kids to Charlotte, see his father. I had to go to New Jersey for two days, work-related – that's when I was kidnapped. I just need to let the know that they'll be alright!". Belcheck nodded as he listened. "What's your husband's name?"

"Stephen. Stephen Wesley" Kim said. "What about the address of his current location?" the Serb pushed. ".. 55 Indigo Plateau, Charlotte. I know that's his dad's address" she replied after seconds of silence. "Leave it with me – I'll speak with someone on the switchboard, ask them if they can help" Belcheck vowed before walking past her and back down the hall. Kim watched as the Serb disappeared round the corner, wondering what he was doing.

–

04:44:57AM

Chloe walked through the different bullpens of the communication sectors – nothing came up yet but it had only been minutes since she'd given them our orders so it was to be expected. But she still felt worry inside. They needed to find the submarine if they wanted to stand any chance of stopping the attacks on DC.

Suddenly, she heard a voice behind her. "Ms O'Brian!" she heard a woman yell and she turned on her heel to see the woman, a young girl, standing up and clutching a phone. "You need to hear this!" she replied. Without being needed to be told twice, the former analyst ran forward and grabbed the phone. "O'Brian!" she almost yelled into it, breaking back into old habits of when she was at CTU. " _Ms O'Brian, this is Jimmy O'Franklin from Radar Control. I heard you're trying_ to find the Yuri Dolgorukiy submarine?" O'Franklin asked; it was the same man whose computer had tracked the submarine earlier. " _Yeah –_ have you got something?" Chloe asked, suddenly curious. " _We do.._ in fact, we've found it!".

Her eyes shooting back up to her hairline, the former analyst tried to splutter out an answer. "You're certain?" she finally replied. " _Yes,_ ma'am, I am! In fact, based on what the radar has told me, I can tell you it's _approximate exact location_!" O'Franklin explained. Scanning the room, Chloe saw Jack walking in, followed by Yanes. "JACK!" she yelled as loud as she could and when the former agent looked her way, she signalled him over. Both men came over in an instance. "What's up, Chloe?" Yanes asked as he ran up behind Jack. "Listen to this!" she ordered as she put the phone on speaker. "Mr O'Franklin, tell Jack what you just told me!"

" _Ok, well –_ to put a long story short, we may have just located the Yuri Dolgorukiy!" he explained for a second time. Jack was stunned into silence; it took several seconds for him to reply, right before Yanes asked the question for him. " _How can you be sure?_ " the former agent asked. "Because I'm currently looking at a radar scan of an area of the North Atlantic Ocean j _ust two hours from the DC coastline! A large vessel passed over the central scanning radar 25 minutes ago_ – believe me, it's the Yuri Dolgorukiy! We've checked and double-checked!" O'Franklin said, full of confidence. Jack wanted to be thrilled at the news but he couldn't help but have doubts. "Anyway you can send us this scan?" he asked. " _Absolutely – I just need_ a computer code! You'll find one on the name-badge of the communication desks!".

Looking over the desk they were at, Jack spotted the badge. "Hazard-Rehman, 6842ABBA!" he said. O'Franklin typed it into his computer screen rapidly and pressed Enter. "You should be getting it now!" he said. Sure enough, the computer home-page was suddenly replaced with what looked like an interactive scan radar – moving towards, it showed what appeared to be a large long pipe going South-East downwards and a large oval cylinder at the top, most likely the main radar system. Suddenly, a black symbol appeared and moved over the pipe at speed. A white information socket popped up and a continuous stream of data appeared, going upwards as more data was analysed. Finally, it ended with several lines of data that confirmed what the three people wanted to see.

"Vessel: Submarine.  
Country Origin: Russia

Most Likely Destination: Washington DC"

"We've found it" Yanes whispered. They had finally located the Yuri Dolgorukiy – whilst the location given was far from exact, they knew where it was most likely headed. And that was all Jack needed. "Chloe, send this to the switchboard! They're gonna need it!" he ordered before walking off past the bullpens. "Why? They're not equipped to analyse data!" Chloe protested, making a good point. "They're not going to analyse it" the former agent countered, turning back around. "They're gonna need it so that they can give an approximate location for the Naval vessels and carriers they're going to alert!".

Yanes' eyes shot up. "You mean...?" he started and Jack smirked. "So far, we've been attacked with brute force... we're gonna hit Benediktov where he doesn't expect it!" he said before turning back around and heading out of the communications wing.

04:48:12AM

–

04:52:51AM

 **Down-town DC**

In the city, meanwhile, the rainwater was practically flooding the streets – so much so that water was starting to seep into the Dupont Metro station at an unprecedented rate. As booms of thunder made themselves known, people already up and about started fleeing into the Metro station for what they felt was safety. To them, the water level may have been up to the bottom of their trousers but it was better than being caught in the heavy rain.

On a bench, trying to keep his legs out of the water, was Cannavale. In the two hours since his escape from the explosion near the Navy Yard, he had been wondering the city trying to find shelter. Only he didn't find any, not until the heavens opened. Now he was trying to figure out what to do next.

Suddenly, he felt a vibrating in his pocket and he pulled out his phone, which was being rung by a mysterious number. Raising an eyebrow, he answered. "So you're alive" he remarked. " _Yes, I am. I know it sounds crazy but we need to meet_ " Henderson remarked. "You're right, Jeremy. It is crazy; have you not seen the bloody weather?" Cannavale replied almost a bit too bluntly than he had hoped. " _I know what you're thinking, but I'm being serious;_ I've been trying to contact you for the last 30 minutes without success. We need to meet. I have unfinished business and I need your help" Henderson insisted, looking over a mysterious email he had sent just three minutes prior whilst also looking at the rain for what seemed like the umpteenth time. He heard Cannavale sigh. "Alright. Fine. We'll meet – but whereabouts? It's not exactly the best weather outside, is it?" he pointed out.

" _You'll find a way. You always do. I've sent you a text with my current location. Just be here as soon as you can_ " Henderson said before hanging up. Cannavale wasn't sure whether he was insane or just hell-bent on his plans. But after weighing up the options for several seconds, he shrugged and got up from the bench. He walked toward the stairs leading back outside and into the rain. This had better be good, he thought to himself.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

On the bridge of the submarine, Benediktov sat at one of the control panels, watching Dragusha at the periscope and Krylenko at the long range radar system – there had been concerns from the Albanian that the bad weather striking both the East Coast and the North Atlantic could affect their ability to scan, but the General insisted they would manage. And they weren't. "General!" Krylenko said suddenly and the two men looked up. "Long-range scan... it's picking up several signals. About 35 minutes away.."

Several miles up ahead, meanwhile, a Naval destroyer braved its way through the storm-like weather. As several rampant waves smashed up against its hull, threatening to capsize the vessel, it came to a stop. Onboard, the captain peered through his binoculars. "We should have sight of the USS Frigate in a few minutes. How many more vessels are due to arrive?" he asked as a bolt of lightning appeared in the sky, followed by a boom of thunder. "About eight more, sir. The Frigate carrier, two submarines, two more Navel destroyers and two cruisers. All were in the area when we got the call from the White House" a young lieutenant replied.

"Good. Set up the radar systems, link it in with what the White House – the Yuri Dolgorukiy is somewhere around here and we're gonna stop them!"

Back on the submarine, Krylenko had finished her scans and looked up at the Russian General, a pale look on her face. "It's a congregation, sir – a variety of American Naval vessels all heading to the same location. Don't ask me how, but they've found us!" they said quietly. Dragusha looked like someone had slapped him in the face. "This submarine's supposed to be untraceable! How could they have located our position?" he demanded, turning towards Benediktov who once again appeared uneasily calm. "I don't know how they did it, but we shouldn't let this cloud our judgements. After all... what have they got compared to the missiles we have?" he reasoned. Whilst Krylenko seemed to understand, Dragusha gave a look that suggested he was more unconvinced. He couldn't believe that the General was being so calm.

"We will get through this – all we have to do is get to the point where DC will be in firing range. Even if they send us to the bottom of the ocean, they won't know until it's too late" he continued. The Albanian just seemed dreadfully unsure. He was not sure what, but he just felt like something didn't add up.

–

 **White House**

"Jack, that's crazy! You can't get serious!" Yanes protested as he followed Jack through the halls. "I'm willing to take the risks, Agent. You should know that about me" the former CTU agent pointed out. "I know, but... FLYING out to confront Benediktov head-on?! That's just crazy and in this weather as well!".

Jack stopped. "Look.. I know what you're thinking, but can you think of anyone better to try and stop this guy? Can you?" he reasoned, only turning around to face Yanes as he finished talking. He did have a point, the Secret Service agent thought. Suddenly, his radio came to life. " _Agent Yanes, we need you in the West Wing. The man Mr Bauer recommended, he's arrived!_ " a female voice said and Yanes looked up in surprise. "How could he have arrived so soon...?" he started, only to stop as Jack smirked. "White House tunnels. I have to go. Helicopter for the North Atlantic is leaving soon" he remarked before heading off down the hall.

In the West Wing of the White House, two agents as well as Chloe and Kim were standing in front of a wall. One of the agents was speaking into his walkie-talkie. "..see you in a minute, over. Stand back, everyone" he said just as the wall slowly started to turn. Kim stepped back, pulling Chloe's sleeve as she did, as the wall stopped moving so it was sticking out at a 90 degree angle. Two agents emerged, followed closely by a near balding man with glasses. The female agent saluted. "Welcome back to the White House, Mr Novick!" she declared.

Mike Novick gave a nod, telling the agent to stand at ease. He turned towards the male agent, a look of annoyance on his face. "Would someone mind telling me what the hell is going on if that would be possible? I'm ushered out of my bed at 2am in the morning, left in the cellar until 30 minutes ago and then told to get dressed without so much of an explanation before being taken through the underground tunnels to the White House?" he demanded to know. "There is a reason you've been called here, sir – right now, we need you" Chloe replied, speaking for the agent. Mike turned and his eyes widened as he saw who he was talking to. "Ms O'Brian? I don't understand, how can you be here? Last time I heard of you, you'd been forced out of the country!" he remarked.

At the same time, Jack was running out of the White House and into the pouring rain, towards a helicopter preparing for take-off. As he was helped on, he moved towards a seat and buckled himself in.

"I was, sir – but everything will be made clear soon.." Chloe replied, just as Yanes appeared from around the corner of a nearby hallway. He nodded towards Novick. "I'm glad you're here, Mr Novick, sir. Mr Bauer sends his apologies but he had to be elsewhere" he said. But he was openly surprised when Novick rose his eyebrows in his own surprise. "Bauer? As in JACK Bauer? HOW can Jack be in the country?" he remarked. "The person who contacted you from the switchboard; did he not mention Jack by name?" Yanes asked. "No – just that the White House has requested my presence here in a case of national emergency. And speaking of which, WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Novick was clearly getting more and more angry at him not being updated on what was going on. But Kim had other things on her mind. "Sorry, Agent... but where IS my dad?" she asked, confused at why he wasn't in their presence and unconvinced by the weak reason given for his absence. Yanes sighed as he knew he'd have to tell them. "At this moment, Jack is getting onto a helicopter. He's flying out to stop the submarine head-on!"

Chloe couldn't believe what she had been told and neither could Kim – Jack was flying out, in horrendous weather, to try and stop Benediktov head-on? Her daughterly instincts kicking in, Kim rushed past Yanes with Chloe following suit. Novick was beyond confused – normally he would try to gain a central idea of what was going on, like he would do under David Palmer and, dare he say it, Charles Logan, but this almost felt like the hours leading up to the exposure of Logan's crimes against the country, in that he was being kept out of the loop. Looking towards the agents around him, he raced after the woman.

In the helicopter, the rain pelted the windscreen and the door suddenly opened – to Jack's surprise, it was Belcheck. "You need all the help you can get. I intend to give it" the Serb said calmly as he sat down, making sure to buckle up. Suddenly, as the door was sliding back into position, it was abruptly stopped mid-way. Slammed back open, an angry Novick appeared. "Mike! You're here" Jack said, having not expected the former Chief of Staff to just stroll up to the chopper within arriving. "Don't "Mike" me, Jack! What the hell is going on?" Novick almost snarled. A bold of lightning hit the dark clouds as the rain fell. Realizing he deserved to know there and then, Jack looked upwards and then back at the open door. "You've not been kept in the loop – long story short, Mike, we need you. In fact, the country needs you" he said. The former Chief of Staff's anger faded and he frowned. "I don't understand" he replied. "This country is under attack, Mike. The full details will be given to you, but right now, we need you. We need you to act as an interim President".

Novick looked at Jack like he was insane. "Inter... President? Jack, I know you've had your differences with Jim Heller but he's a good President – besides, where is he? I would have expected to see him" he asked. He knew that Heller was back in the country as of last night and that was it. Jack swallowed. This was not going to be easy. "President Heller is in a coma. Has been for nearly three hours" he admitted. Noticing Novick's jaw dropping in stunned silence, he carried on. "What's more, the Vice President is dead. As is the National Security Advisor and the pro tempore of the Senate. The Secretary of State won't be able to make it back to DC for at least six more hours – we need a President in the meantime and I want that person to be you, sir!"

Novick turned his head around, clearly troubled by what he had been told. Heller in a coma? A good portion of his cabinet wiped out? What was going on and why had he not been kept in the loop? "We felt no need to tell you – even though you're a man with high credentials, we couldn't avoid a security leak" Belcheck waded in. Of course, he had no real clue of just how important a person Mike Novick was but he felt it necessary to defend Jack. When the former Chief of Staff didn't respond, Jack made one last plea. "Mike, please. We need you. We've got officials ready to swear you in and I promise you'll be debriefed on everything. But right now, we don't have a lot of time!". Novick thought to himself; time and time and time again, Jack had been right. There was no reason NOT to trust him and if what he was saying was true, then something had to be done.

He turned back around. "Alright, Jack. I believe what you're saying. I'll listen to what has to be said. And I'll do it" he agreed. The relief on the former agent's face said it all. "Thank you, sir.." he said and would have spoken further if not for the interruption of the helicopter pilot. "Mr Bauer, we need to go!" he insisted and the former agent looked at Novick, who nodded in understanding. "Good luck..." he said and the door closed as he turned away. "...wherever you're going". He walked backwards and watched as the helicopter started to move off the helipad and into the air. As the rain hammered down at an unprecedented rate, the helicopter rose into the sky and disappeared below the clouds. Staring up at the stormy sky, he finally walked back towards the White House. Just what was going on that required him to be sworn in as a President?

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

Within Walkman's office, the female President was pacing up and down. She had still heard nothing from her operative at the Hospital.

Suddenly, her door flew open and Evans walked in. She turned, a hopeful look on her face that fell just as quickly when he shook his head. "We've not heard anything. I've dispatched two operatives to the hospital but I doubt we're gonna get anything for a while" he admitted. Walkman scowled in frustration. "Madame President, without being prude, I still think that you should consider..." he started only to be bluntly cut off ".. you still think I should leave whilst I can? No, Chris. I can't. I need to find out what I can. What's the good in fleeing when you still have loose ends?" Walkman retorted.

At that, there was a knock on her open door. It was Mack, who looked like he had seen a ghost as his face was as white as a sheet. "Mack? What's wrong?" Evans asked, speaking for Walkman. "I... I've just received something. I've had a listen to it and I think the President should listen as well. It's on your phone, just click 1" he said quietly and calmly. Raising an eyebrow, Walkman headed towards her phone. Doing as Mack suggested, she pressed the "1" option.

" _You have one new voice-mail, sent today at 04:50am_ " the automated voice spoke. And then...

" _Hello, Walkman. Bet you didn't expect to hear my voice again_ " the gruff and angry voice of Jeremy Henderson filled the room. Walkman froze and her blood ran cold; he was alive! " _And yes, I mean what I said: I've found out about your intentions. How you sent Hancock and O'Neill to kill me. How you ordered that nurse in the hospital to try and eliminate me should the previous plan have failed. Well, as you can gather, both those plans have failed. You tried to pull the wool over my eyes, Walkman. You tried to mug me off, kill me, just so you could fulfil your own ideals. Well... I don't take kindly to that, not by a long-shot._

" _You better be DAMN careful, Walkman. As I will find you. I will find you and the gods of vengeance will strike down on you. You are going to regret getting on the wrong side of me.. be careful where you step!_ " Henderson's voice-mail ended with a snarl in his voice before cutting off like that.

Walkman sat in her chair, showing signs that she was about to start hyperventilating. This was the worst news she could have possibly heard; not only was Henderson ALIVE but he knew the truth. About how she had tried to get rid of him. She looked up slowly towards Mack. "Go to the clinic. Get Heather up here, now!" she ordered. The bespectacled man nodded before turning on his heel. Evans looked towards the female President. "Find him! Do whatever it takes but find him!"

–

 **Downtown DC**

As he watched the rain trickle down the windows, Henderson looked back down towards his laptop. And the voice-mail he had sent to what he presumed was the private email for Walkman.

Closing the tab, he instead pulled out his phone and typed in a new number. To his relief, it worked. "Hello? Is this the Russian Embassy? I need some help, I need to speak with someone who can pull contact details: a Mr. Leonid Vladimir, I believe?.. He is there? Excellent? What's this about? Well.. let's just say there's a high-ranking Russian officer I need to speak with. And fast!" he spoke into it, his face breaking out into a bigger and bigger smile.

–

05:00:00AM

* * *

Well... lots of things have happened here. And lots more is going to happen. I will get Chapter 19 up as soon as I can, but I can't give a definite timeframe. Sorry. In the meanwhile, please Rate and Review as per usual!


	19. 19: 5am - 6am (WET)

HELLO, HELLO, HELLO!

Firstly... I am so sorry for all the delays and not keeping you guys informed on the chapter. Essentially, i am in the final few weeks of my university degree and time is a luxury that I have been ill able to afford. Whilst I have been able to write snippets every now and then, this was the first chance I had to upload the whole thing. I'm afraid I can't guarantee a time-estimate on the next chapter but considering my final deadline EVER is near the middle of May, consider the last few chapters to be uploaded after the middle of May.

Hope you enjoy this and hope you haven't been put off by the lack of updates.

 **DISCLAIMER: See Chapter 1**

* * *

19: 5am – 6am (W.E.T):

 **The following takes place between 5am and 6am, Washington Eastern Time:**

–

05:00:01AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Another huge wave smashed up against the hull of a Naval carrier as it made its way towards the Naval destroyer that had been the first ship to arrive; also there was another Naval destroyer and two cruisers. Onboard the carrier, a petty officer peered through a pair of binoculars. "Sir! I see the Oslo, five minutes ahead of us" he called towards the Admiral of the carrier. "Good. Everyone get into position. We need to be ready in case of attack!" he ordered to the rest of the officers on the bridge, who immediately responded by moving either into position or action.

In spite of the storm taking place outside, there was a flurry of activity on the carrier's main deck, with officers and pilots scrambling about, either carrying weapons to take inside or climbing into fighter jets being battered by the heavy rain. On the Naval destroyer identified as the Oslo, meanwhile, the radar system booked up two signatures. As the petty officer in charge of the radar peered through the window, he saw two large black vessels half-submerging from the depths. "Captain, the Olympia and the Columbia have just arrived!" he called. The Captain nodded. "Patch me through to them" he ordered another officer. Seconds went by as the officer opened communications. "Done, sir. You're on with the commanding officer of the Columbia!" he said.

"This is Captain Morton Grimes of the Naval destroyer Oslo. Are you receiving me, over?" Grimes asked. " _This is Commander Stanton of the Columbia, over._ I apologize for the noise, Captain, but as you can gather, things are hectic down here" Stanton explained, covering one of his ears as officers on the submarine scrambled about. " _I can only imagine –_ have you been briefed on the situation?" the Captain asked. " _In a way, yes – all I've been told is that we're_ to try and stop a Russian submarine that's under the control of a rogue General" Stanton replied, as he pressed up against the wall to allow several seamen to move past him. " _That's pretty much the sum-up of it, yes. I know the full situation but I've been briefed_ to not tell anyone until we hear from the White House" Grimes explained. The submarine commander frowned. "But surely we've a right to know the full story?" he wisely pointed out.

" _I know – but_ I'm under orders. I'm sure the White House will fill us in" the captain said in response, just as a petty officer came up to him, with a radio head-set on. "Captain, sir! We've been contacted by the White House – an UH-1Y Venom helicopter will be contacting us shortly about what's going on!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. Immediately turning, Grimes nodded and dismissed the officer. "Did you hear that, Stanton?" he asked. " _Sure did. What do you want us to do?_ " the submarine commander replied. "Send us your radio frequency – we'll contact the other vessels and have them do the same. _When the Viper contacts us, we all need to be in on it_ " Grimes ordered. "Will do, captain" Stanton agreed before moving towards one of the officers stationed next to the submarine's radio. Onboard the Oslo, the radio operator was awaiting the various radio frequencies of the ships nearby whilst Grimes looked out of the window and up towards the stormy sky with his binoculars.

Several miles above the clouds, meanwhile, the helicopter that had departed from the White House made its way through the rain and thunder; as identified by the petty officer, the helicopter was a UH-1Y Venom which was a utility aircraft used for a mixture of missions in the United States Marine Corps. Onboard, Jack had moved himself to right up against the wall separating the cockpit from where he, Belcheck and about three Marines were sitting. So far throughout flight, the helicopter had gotten through the skies effectively trouble free but now, it was getting rocked by turbulence as a result of the chaotic weather. Finally, one of the pilots turned around, the helicopter's radio receiver in his hand. "Sorry about the delay, Mr Bauer. The vessels are ready and listening" he said. Jack took the radio and spoke into it. "This is Jack Bauer speaking. Captain Grimes, are you receiving me, over?" he said as a test. " _Hearing you loud and clear, Jack._ You're also on with the vessels that have already arrived. They need to know, what are we dealing with?" Grimes replied after several seconds of dead air, all whilst walking around the bridge of the Oslo. " _Ok – what you should all know is that you've been called upon to locate a Russian submarine headed towards the East Coast._

"What you don't know, however, is that this submarine is unlike any you have most likely faced; this submarine is the Yuri Dolgorukiy. _Borei-class, the first of it's kind. It's armament includes approximately 16 Bulava ballistic missiles and 6 SS-N-15 cruise missiles. It's completely untraceable by radar and frankly we were lucky to locate it at all_ – had it not been for a radar system built on the bottom of the North Atlantic, this submarine could have passed by us all or even fired one of it's missiles before any of you had time to even load a gun. What's more, the vessel is under the control of _Russian General Andre Benediktov – a man, in the words of some, we should all fear. Now before any of you start thinking this is an attack by Russia itself, the Russian government has assured us Benediktov is not acting on their orders._

"In short, we need to stop the Yuri Dolgorukiy here and now – from what our intelligence has gathered, the _submarine has been behind the attacks you may well have heard about. This will not be easy but we are, effectively, America's last line of defence. If we don't stop Benediktov_ here and now, nothing can" Jack's speech could be heard throughout all the vessels that were linked in with the radio frequency of the Oslo: the Venom helicopter, the carrier, the Columbia and all the other vessels in range. As soon as he finished, he handed the receiver back to the pilot. "I take it you heard all that, Morton?" he asked. " _I sure did_ – when can we expect you?" the Captain of the Oslo asked. At that, he heard a reluctant sigh. " _Not for another_ 25 to 30 minutes, I'm afraid. With this weather, I would prefer not to have to take a risk. If Benediktov makes himself known before then, _you'll have to fight him off until we get there_ " the pilot explained.

Thankfully, Morton understood. "If that does happen, we'll hold him off as long as we can. Just get here soon" he said before hanging up. "Alright, listen up! Let's find this bastard! Townsend, tell the submarines to be on standby. We need them as a last resort" he ordered as the bridge became a-buzz with activity. As another bolt of lightning struck the sky, Grimes knew this was going to be one of the toughest challenges that the Oslo had ever faced.

–

 **White House**

As the lift doors opened, several Secret Service agents including Yanes walked out. Followed by Novick. He looked around where he had stood out. "Hasn't changed a bit" he said quietly. For he was in the White House Bunker, situated two hundred feet below the main building, and a place he had been in before, when Air Force One had been shot down during the attacks by Hibab Marwan and Vice-President Logan had been forced to take refugee.

"Right this way, sir" Yanes said as he led him towards the double glass-doors and the main conference room. Inside were several agents, five White House officials, Chloe and Kim. Secretary of State Gerrard was visible via video-chat on a view-screen. As one of the doors opened, everyone looked up. Novick looked at everyone and nodded. "Let's do this" he said. All the officials moved into position, whilst Yanes moved Chloe and Kim to the side of the room to a spot where they weren't in the way of the rushing officials but were at least to stay witness to the affirmation of Novick taking the presidency. A woman rushed up in front of the former Chief of Staff, a copy of the Bible in hand, whilst another person moved to the left of Novick, audio recording equipment in hand. "When you're ready, sir" the woman said calmly. As the seconds ticked by and everyone got into position, Novick gave the nod and he put his hand onto the outstretched Bible. "Repeat after me, sir. I, Michael Jude Novick.."

"I, Michael Jude Novick.."

"..do solemnly swear.."

"..do solemnly swear.."

"..that I will faithfully execute the office.."

"..that I will faithfully execute the office.."

"..of President of the United States.."

"..of President of the United States.."

"..and will to the best of my ability.."

"..and will to the best of my ability.."

"..preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.."

"..preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.. so help me God"

–

05:05:53AM

As Novick finished, the woman removed the Bible and nodded. "This way, Mr President. We need to bring you up to speed on what is happening" an agent said, indicating towards another room. But before anyone could move, Gerrard spoke up. " _Mike, I really appreciate you doing this. Whatever you do,_ keep the country safe until I can land" he said. Novick nodded. "I'll try my best, Mr Secretary" he said. At that, the screen was turned off and Yanes turned to the two most important women in Jack's life. "We'll need you in on this, Chloe. Kim, wait here and stand-by. Agent Runten will get you something to drink" he ordered. The former analyst nodded and headed towards the group that were headed to the other room, whilst Kim was escorted by another agent to what looked like a kitchen area of the bunker.

–

 **Downtown DC**

Trying to find Henderson was easier said than done – the rain was so heavy that Cannavale couldn't figure out where he was going, even with the help of the SatNav in the stolen taxi he was driving. He hoped he would find the guy soon as the weather just felt like it was getting worse and worse by the minute. What could Henderson want that was apparently so important that it justified his presence on the other side of the city, in this weather?!

As a boom of thunder hit the skies, the SatNav suddenly made a declaration. "You have reached your final destination". Cannavale, waiting in-between the windscreen wipers and their removing of the heavy raindrops, noticed that he was outside what looked like an empty building. Frowning, he cautiously opened the driver-side door of the taxi and checking to see if he had remembered his handgun, made his way into the elements. Immediately putting his arms over his head to protect his face from the rain, he ran towards what looked like a back-door entry way – and would have opened it straight away had he not stopped. He had to treat everything right now as suspicious; he couldn't trust anyone, not after what happened outside the Navy Yard.

Pulling his gun out and slowly pushing down on the door handle, he gingerly made his way inside. Making sure to close the door after him, Cannavale noticed he was staring down a long hallway. Moving forward as slowly as he could possibly be, he kept looking everywhere around him in case this was a trap. As he made it to the end of the hallway, he walked into a room near the front of the building. Scanning the area, he noticed a phone laid out neatly next to a laptop on a table. Raising his eyebrow, he moved towards the table and looked at the laptop's screen – and at that, he heard movement. He turned around just in time to see Henderson jumping straight at him. The two men collapsed to the ground with a thud and Henderson would have most likely went for his gun had he not realized who the man he had dragged down was. He sighed and got to his feet. "You could have warned me it was you" he remarked to Cannavale.

"After what happened, I can't afford the luxury of trust" the man replied as he accepted the offer of a stretched hand and got to his feet. As the sound of the rain hitting the windows filled the room, Cannavale glared at Henderson. "So what's so important that you require me to go through one of the biggest thunderstorms I've seen, just so I can find you? He asked, the sarcasm in his tone of voice rather strong. Henderson rose an eyebrow at the way he was spoken to, but said nothing. "Put simply, I need your help" he said.

Cannavale resisted the urge to laugh. "You need my help? Um, correct me if I'm wrong but the last time I checked, when you needed my help, it nearly resulted in both our deaths! What could be SO important that it needs my help?" he said incredulously. "Because that incident outside the Navy Yard – it was a set-up. Those men I was meeting, they were in allegiance with Walkman! Don't ask me how, but Walkman has known about me.. you... everything we've plotted, she's known!" Henderson revealed. Cannavale rose an eyebrow. "She knew?" he replied, taken aback. "She did – that car you drove was intentionally booby-trapped. You were MEANT to crash into that doughnut shop. She was trying to kill us both at the cost of her associates" came the reply.

Cannavale turned his head to the side, not sure of what to believe. "This is why I need your help. I'm going after Walkman! She is going to regret getting on the wrong side of me!" Henderson revealed. Cannavale looked up, flabbergasted. "You're going AFTER Walkman? With all due respect, we're just two men with a few guns. Walkman HAS A WHOLE ARMY! What do you hope to do?" he spluttered in complete disbelief. Henderson simply looked at him and rose both eyebrows. "This is why I need you – I have a plan. Benediktov is nearing the DC coastline and I'm gonna use him to flush Walkman into the open" he revealed. "No... I'm sorry, just no. I am NOT helping you with this! I value my life, I'm not putting it at risk by going after Walkman!" Cannavale stubbornly refused. He firmly believed that two men going up against essentially an army was suicide. Seconds ticked by as Henderson simply stared at him before nodding. "Very well – you don't have to help" he said and the look in Cannavale's eyes suggested he was seeing sense. "I'll just tell my operative to put a bullet in Vicky's head" he continued.

Cannavale froze. Henderson noticed and smirked. "You thought I'd let you leave just like that? You clearly don't know me at all. Take a look at the laptop" he said. Cannavale sat on the sofa that was in front of the table with the laptop and peered at the screen – a security feed was playing. There, sleeping on a sofa, was a young adult female. "I had this as backup ever since I enlisted you to kidnap Bauer's daughter. Let's just say that Vicky has had a productive few hours at her slumber party. It would be a crying shame for her friends to wake up and find her corpse, wouldn't it?" Henderson said smugly. Cannavale looked at him, a look of terror and pure anger on his face. "You monster.." he whispered. The laptop screen was suddenly closed. "So, are you in... or are you out?".

Seconds of silence went by. "Fine... what do you want me to do?" he snarled quietly. Henderson smiled. "I have to make some phone-calls. Once that's done, I'll explain what's happening. But for now, all I'm going to say is that if we succeed with our mission, we will have changed the world forever.." he said before taking the phone and walking towards the window. A shaken Cannavale could only stare at him.

–

 **White House Bunker**

"...so that's where Mr Bauer is headed now, Mr President" a stern-looking military General explained to Novick, who certainly looked like he had been through all the emotions as he had been bought up to date with everything that had happened. From learning about the submarine theft to the plane hijacking and then everything leading up to the death of National Security Advisor turned Interim President Baylis, he was standing to question if this Benediktov was most likely the deadliest threat that America had seen – Victor Drazen, Habib Marwan and Charles Logan were each one thing, but this Benediktov was in control of one of the most powerful submarines within the last 60 years. And then all the talk of the Russian being in potential alliance with someone in the city had made the alarm bells inside him start to ring.

"How many vessels are there at this blockade?" he asked. "At last count, approximately eight. And that's including two submarines, the aircraft carrier Oslo and a Naval destroyer" Yanes confirmed, whilst pacing up and down with a phone next to his ear. Novick turned towards another General, whose many medals indicated he was in the Air Force. "General Frampton, can you give an update on the nearest Air Force reinforcements?" he asked. "Well, aside from those assigned to the Oslo, the nearest assistance the Air Force can give is in New York but even if they took off now, don't expect any help from them for 30 to 40 minutes or even an hour" the Air Force general explained. "I don't understand; the rogue aircraft that attacked the city, didn't that take off from New York?" a female agent exclaimed in confusion. "That it did, Abi. But the jet arrived in DC's airspace when the rain wasn't as bad; I've tried everything, but they don't want to risk anything happening just to get her faster, not when the weather is how it is now".

Novick shook his head. "Order them to take off" he said. Frampton looked at him and started to protest, almost like he was siding with the Air Force stationed in New York, but the acting President rose his hand. "I don't care how they feel about the weather; our country's under attack and they have a duty to protect us! Tell them to fly their aircraft apart if needsby!" he growled in anger, appalled that they were putting the weather ahead of the safety of their own country. "Yes, Mr President" he said. As he rose, Novick turned towards everyone else at the table. "And the same thing goes for everyone else – I don't care if you're Army, Marine, whatever, they are meant to defend this country by whatever it takes!" he said sharply and slowly. Yanes watched as everyone nodded – he knew and they knew the acting President was right.

05:12:34AM

–

05:17:12AM

 **White House Bunker**

In the other part of the bunker, Kim sat on a stool with her head in her arms, which were resting on top of a worktop. She had been asleep for what had been barely minutes when suddenly, she was jostled awake. "Ms Wesley?" an agent asked and a groggy Kim slowly opened her eyes before looking up at the female agent. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have someone who wants to talk to you" she revealed, putting an open mobile phone out on the worktop. Now somewhat awake and aware of her senses, Kim slowly picked up the phone. "Hello?" she said. " _Is this Kim Wesley?_ " a male voice asked. "Yes... who is this?" Kim asked slowly, as she indicated to the female Secret Service agent to give her some privacy. "I'll be outside" the agent mouthed. " _It's alright, ma'am.. you can trust me. I've been working for the government for many years – and I've had the privilege of working with your father as well_ " the voice continued. It took a few seconds for the words to register, but realization started to dawn on just who Kim was talking to. "Are you... _Aaron Pierce?_ " she asked, hope in her voice. "Yes, ma'am. I am" Aaron confirmed as he indicated to the driver of the limo he was in to speed up. Kim was unsure as to how to react. Why would Aaron Pierce be contacting her of all people? She couldn't quite understand it.

"Forgive me if I've missed something, but why are you contacting me?" she finally asked. " _Well, long story short, Kimberly –_ I'm currently in a limo heading to the capital. And that's because I have orders to escort your family there" he said, quickly glancing up in the rear-view mirror at the three people behind him – Stephen as well as two children. Kim's husband and their children. Slowly reacting, Kim's eyes widened. Her family? "Wait.. my family?!" she almost shouted. " _Yes, ma'am – give me one second_ " Pierce replied and at that, he moved to lower the mirror separating the limo passenger seats from the driver's. "Mr Wesley? Your wife would like to speak to you" he said quietly as so not to wake the young children in the back seat.

Had it not been for the fact he was holding his young son, Stephen would have shot up and grabbed the phone without a second thought. Instead, he immediately swung his free arm and took the phone. "Kim?!" he said quickly and he heard a big sigh of relief. " _Oh my god.._ I'm so happy to hear you're alright. I'm sorry I wasn't able to contact you sooner. The last few hours have been a blur to say the least" Kim replied, unsure as to how she could explain being kidnapped, nearly being killed by a missile and then having to make her way through one of the biggest thunderstorms the United States had ever seen on her way to the White House without sounding crazy at the same time. " _Don't worry –_ I'm just glad to hear you're alright. But at the same time, I'm also confused. _The Secret Service agent, he wouldn't tell me anything other than he was asked to escort us to DC. He practically frog-marched me to the limo!_ " Stephen replied, almost exasperated by the end. Kim resisted the urge to smirk at the thought of her husband being frog-marched by government agents. " _But anyway, the one thing that doesn't make sense to me_ is why we're being taken to DC. I just don't understand – why DC? Why not Los Angeles?" Stephen continued.

Kim sighed, realizing she would have to partially explain what she wanted to keep secret until her family were safe and sound and in front of her. "My... it's my dad. _My dad's in the country_ " she admitted. Stephen's eyes shot up. "Your dad... Jack's in the country? I don't understand, _how can he be here?_ " he asked. "I don't know! Just that... I saw him for the first time, about an hour ago. All I know is something big is going on. _He's flown out to the North Atlantic, can't say why_ " came the reply. Stephen sighed, still confused over everything. "Mr Wesley?" Pierce said suddenly and Stephen turned his head to see the former Secret Service agent looking at him, indicating he needed the phone back. "Kim, I've got to go. I'll see you.. in a few hours. Love you" he said sadly before handing the phone over. "I know you and your wife were talking, sir, but we have orders to keep radio contact for the next few hours to a minimum" Pierce said, sympathy in his voice.

As the window separating the seats rolled back up, the former agent spoke into the phone. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, Ms Wesley, but White House orders. No _contact unless absolutely necessary_ " he said. "I.. I know. Just promise me one thing, Agent Pierce. Please, just get my family here" Kim said, her voice tainted with stress and emotion. " _Of course, Kim._ If it's the last thing I do – I will get your family to the White House" Pierce vowed before hanging up. As the phone's dial-tone rang on, Kim looked ahead towards the bunker's conference area. She had never felt so helpless in her life. Her dad was somewhere over the ocean surrounding the East Coast and her family were hundreds of miles away. And here she was, unable to do a thing to help either of them.

–

 **Washington DC**

As the rain continued to slam down against the glass, Henderson paced up and down frantically. His phone was pressed up against his ear, still ringing. Cannavale had taken to lying across one of the sofas, a flurry of emotions going through him: anger at the man pacing in front of him for going as far as to threaten the life of his daughter just to make him do his bidding, terror for the safety of Vicky and concern for what it actually was that Henderson wanted him to do. Ok, he was still a contracted mercenary so he was expected to do dangerous jobs of all shapes and sizes but considering he was still new to this sort of thing, there were still some jobs that sent shivers down his spine.

"Come on, come on.." Henderson muttered, frustration that no-one was picking up. Cannavale wanted to say something, but he didn't dare in case it was taken the wrong way. He looked at Henderson and had concerns inside that he was not mentally right. This was someone wanting to take on one of the biggest underground movements in the world and expecting to win. He could only hope that whatever it was that he had planned would work.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

"General, looks like we've got trouble!" Krylenko shouted from the top of the steps leading up to the bridge. As she pulled down the periscope and started to look through it, the sounds of contact being made against the metal stairs became louder and louder. Benediktov emerged on the bridge, a grim look on his face. "I understand we have a problem?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

"We do – namely the congregation of American vessels has gotten bigger. AND there are submarines there as well!" Dragusha said, turning his head to reveal a face of worry. The biggest face of worry he'd had ever since they had set off from Greenland. "So? What's the worry? I told you both before we can handle the American vessels. And as for the submarines, all it takes is a few torpedoes and they'll be on the seabed before anyone can say "Return fire"" the Russian General replied with a blank expression, unsure as to why such a fuss was being made over nothing. "Sir, with all due respect, I don't think you appreciate the seriousness of this situation! Yes, we have the firepower to destroy all of them but if they have submarines, they'll spot us before we can even launch ONE of our missiles" Krylenko practically shrieked, baffled as to how the old Russian General was not in the slightest worried by the turn of events.

"Oh, Krylenko... I do understand the situation. But I think both you and Dragusha are getting worked up over practically not that much. I'm not worried, I've had decades of military service to know when to panic and when to keep a cool head. Right now is a time to keep a cool head. We'll get through this, the Americans won't dare try to stop us with brute force. They should have realized that by now" Benediktov said calmly and slowly, each time turning his face from between looking at Krylenko and then looking at Dragusha. "Look, if push comes to shove, we can turn this thing into a battering ram. I'm sure you both took the time to check the results of the training exercises with this thing – I assure you, it can take on anything and not even get a slight scratch!" he added, slight annoyance in his voice. He had been planning this for years and he was starting to lose patience with everyone around him finding flaws or concerns in his plans. He knew what he was doing.

Suddenly, through his earpiece, he started to hear a bizarre ringing. Almost like Morse code. He started to mouth out what he was hearing.. and frowned. Something was up and he wasn't sure as to what exactly. "I'll be right back" he said, his voice showing uncertainty as he turned on his heel and thundered down the steps from the bridge. Krylenko and Dragusha looked at each other before the Albanian threw his shoulders off. "I guess if he does know what he's doing – I suppose we shouldn't be worried" he admitted before turning back to his console. Krylenko looked deep in thought for a split second before conceding Dragusha was right and looking back through the periscope. Back in the commanding officer's office, Benediktov discreetly looked all around him before quickly going to behind the desk and pulling out a black case from underneath it. "I swear I didn't think I'd need this.." he muttered as he opened it up to reveal a blue laptop. Again making sure that no-one was watching, he opened up the laptop and watched as it came to life within seconds. He quickly typed in several numbers and waited. A programme started up and what looked like two large sound-waves appeared on the screen.

–

05:25:31AM

 **Washington DC**

Still pacing and with the phone still ringing next to his ear, Henderson looked like he was starting to give up and try again, until... " _This is Russian General Andre Benediktov. Service number 16-32-Alpha-Romero-Moscow. Greetings to you, Admiral Stutgorikiy_ " he heard Benediktov speak, fully in Russian. The contact he had spoken to 20 minutes previously had pulled through. Basically, he knew that if he wanted to communicate with Benediktov and actually get him to listen, he would have to trick the General into thinking he was speaking with one of his closest home-born allies. He knew some members of the Russian military had private service numbers that they could use to contact others in case of an emergency and even though he was disgraced, the service number Benediktov used hadn't actually been withdrawn properly which meant he could still use it. And more so, this Admiral Stutgorikiy was considered to have been the only person among senior members of the Russian military to have openly denounced the dismissal and disgrace of Benediktov all those years ago.

"Oh thank god! Andre, you have no idea how long I've been trying to contact you!" Henderson said, suddenly adopting a German accent. Benediktov moved his head back in surprise. It took a few seconds for him to find his voice. " _Who is this? Where is Admiral Stutgorikiy?_ " he asked, his voice instinctively full of suspicion. "It's me, General. Hermann from Airborne Cell!" Henderson lied as he spotted Cannavale getting up in interest. " _How do I know this is Hermann?_ For all I know, this could be someone claiming to be him! Give me some proof we know each other" the Russian General replied, his voice still tainted with suspicion and uncertainty. This demand almost threw Henderson for a bit and he thought for a few seconds before replying. "We met several years agoin Vilnius. I had just made my escape _from prison and you had gone underground following your dismissal. You were wearing a locket that had a photo of your daughter in it, the girl you had to disown in order to save her from harassment following your dismissal._ And if I can recall, you very nearly murdered me that night for merely suggesting that..."

".. that you could pull a contact in Moscow who could put me in contact with my Elena. Yes, I remember" Benediktov said thoughtfully. Henderson had done his research on Hermann and with regards to the story concerning his daughter, it was one that the Russian had told very few, less than six in fact. Henderson had known through the contact they had shared before his prison escape and Hermann had known because inside sources had given him the information. "One question remains, Jurgen. HOW were you able to contact me? I certainly did not give you my service number and only one person knows it!" the Russian General asked. His mind was at ease that he was talking with someone he could trust through and through but he still didn't understand how the German knew his service number. As he said, Admiral Stutgorikiy was the only one who could possibly know it.

" _There's no time for that, Andre. We have a BIG problem! Huge, even!_ " Henderson said, starting to fake desperation. Benediktov frowned. "What's wrong?" he asked. From the few times he had met Hermann, he had seen the German as cool, calm and collected. If he was desperate or concerned, then something was wrong. " _Everything!_ Don't ask me how, but everything we've been doing up to this point has been nothing more than part of a deception!" Henderson replied, moving towards the window. " _Deception? I don't understand!_ " Benediktov said. "I know you've been talking with her, Andre. Milena Demitrijevic! And I can assure you now, she's been playing the A.F.E for fools!" came the reply, as a boom of thunder could suddenly be heard through the phone. Benediktov froze. Demitrijevic had been playing him for a fool? No. No, he couldn't believe that. Demitrijevic was a woman who was just as vocal and passionate in her hatred of America. As much as he trusted Hermann, he was sure he had been misled or misinformed. He had to have been. " _Andre? Andre?!_ " he suddenly heard Henderson yell down the phone. He quickly realized quite a number of seconds had passed from when Henderson had first spoken. "I'm still here – I'm sorry Jurgen, _but I can't believe what you just said. Demitrijevic would never betray a movement designed to attack America, never!_ " he replied. Henderson shook his head and smirked. "I don't like it any-more than you do, but trust me, I am not lying!" he said.

" _Then I need_ proof! Prove to me that we're being played" Benediktov replied sternly. " _Very well._ I need an access code so I can send the information to you" Henderson said, moving back towards his open laptop and looking directly at an online folder full of files. He could hear the Russian sigh – both men knew that giving out access codes was risky and could lead to their actions being revealed, but in this situation, there wasn't much in the way of choice. " _4-6-1-9-5-7-1-4-5-3-Delta_ " came the reluctant reply. Typing in the code, Henderson proceeded to highlight all the files from the folder and then drag them into another folder.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Waiting patiently, Benediktov was mulling over what he had heard from "Hermann" - and he simply couldn't believe it. The person who had helped finance and plan the attack on America had been playing him for a fool? It just didn't add up. He was intrigued as to what the German had for him, but he couldn't believe for a second that there was somehow some truth to it.

Suddenly, he heard a slight sound coming from his laptop and within seconds, a series of files appeared on screen in one big folder. "I've got it" he said into the laptop. " _Look through each of them. And before you ask, they are real –_ I had to hack into the system of who took Demitrijevic's identity and I only just avoided detection" Henderson replied. Benediktov looked at the files and was deep in thought for quite a few seconds before sighing. "Alright, I'll look at them. _Give me some time_ " he replied, before minimizing the programme that was enabling him the communication with "Hermann". He looked through the files and raised an eyebrow at one. Opening it, a video player started up and within seconds, the file started to play. It was footage of what appeared to be an attack on a convoy, as there were multiple vehicles on fire or over-turned.

It then hit Benediktov that this looked like a live feed coming from a body camera as the footage kept shaking and rough sounds like something was hitting the camera frequently popping up. " _ **This is GB Division One broadcasting live from the Ukraine. Please come in DC, over**_ " a mysterious voice said almost like as if they were trying to talk with someone. " _Roger, Division One. This is DC – is the mission complete?_ " a female voice asked, though somewhat distorted through the camera. " _ **Affirmative. We hit the jackpot, at least 40 members of Benediktov's Eastern Cell. They didn't stand a chance, they're all dead**_ " the first voice replied. " _Excellent. I've heard from all the other GB divisions – they have eliminated their targets. In short, you've successfully wiped out the whole of Eastern Cell. President Walkman will be.._ " the female voice said before it suddenly cut off. Benediktov's eyes had shot up once more. Eastern Cell, wiped out?! No wonder they were having trouble trying to contact them. " _General?_ " he suddenly heard. He slightly coughed. "Well – here's the thing, Jurgen. I've know this for quite some time" he lied. He needed to pretend that this was common knowledge to him.

This news threw Henderson, who frowned. "You've known? Well, _what else do you know?_ " he replied. All his plans on using the Russian General to get revenge on Walkman for him were starting to go downhill. "Well for starters, this President Walkman person the video mentioned – I know she's been trying to pull the rug _out from under my feet for some time. I know she's taken on the identity of Melina Demitrijevic so that she can try and use me as a scapegoat for the_ attacks soon to come. But she won't get the chance – as soon as I make landfall, I'm going to track her down and slit her throat! _Then I'm going to use my weapons to attack DC and make it look like SHE did it. America will plunge into chaos_ " Benediktov explained, his smile turning smug as he finished talking.

As for Henderson, though, he was starting to panic. Really panic. His plan hadn't even started and it was going downhill. What could he use that would invoke some kind of reaction from Benediktov that would escalate his own plans and help play a part in getting revenge on Walkman? He tried again. "The file, fifth from the right and top row. Open it" he suggested. Benediktov did just that and a screenshot of a bank statement opened up. On it was a message, the same message that Divjak before had seen:

" **I know you said not to send the money to this account, Jordan, but as it is, I've had no choice. Long story short, the job is done – the soldiers and rebels who pursued Bauer, they've all been eliminated. Benediktov has no clue this has happened; so far, he's fallen right into our trap and sooner or later, he'll have no way out of it. GB"**

This backed up the body-cam footage of the part of Eastern Cell being attacked, 100%. Benediktov knew that Walkman had been trying to throw him for a loop by claiming to be Demitrijevic, but he never knew she had done this. But still, he tried to hide his shock. " _I need something new, Hermann. Right now, this is doing nothing to convince me of Walkman's treachery that I don't already know of_ " he explained. Henderson was close to slamming his head against the wall in frustration. He quickly opened another folder which contained exact copies of the files he had sent over and opened one up. And his eyes widened. An idea dawned. "The file, second from left, bottom row. Open it!" he exclaimed.

Again, Benediktov did this. The file he opened revealed a photo of a large crater. Just sticking out on the ground on the edge of the crater was what appeared to be a flagpole with the Russian flag on it. He frowned. " _What you're looking at is something that happened in Moscow just six hours ago._ The government has kept it hush-hush – very few people know anything about it. _Someone launched an attack on the Kremlin, estimated over 1000 people have been killed_ " Henderson explained. Of course, what the Russian did not know was that this photo was now the remains of the Kremlin. It had been the result of a nuclear test in Siberia, in which the explosion had burnt away the snow all around the site. But it did the job, as Benediktov was showing signs of being convinced. " _And that's not all –_ file, second row in the middle" he added. Following this, the General opened up the file and was met with a photo of a young woman going into a building. But it was someone Benediktov knew, as his blood ran cold and the colour drained from his face. "El.. Elena?" he said so quietly that Henderson almost didn't hear it.

" _I.. I'm so sorry to confirm this, but yes, that's Elena. This photo was taken in the area near the Kremlin when it happened._ She was one of the first they found, she didn't stand a chance" Henderson said, feigning remorse. Benediktov sat back, trying his best not to cry. He never cried. " _How can you be... how can you be sure_ Walkman was involved?" he desperately asked, trying to hold on to the hope that perhaps his daughter had survived. He heard a sigh. " _Fourth from the left... fifth row._ That's how" Henderson said, biting his lip in the hopes that this would be the turning stone he so desperately needed to push Benediktov over the edge.

As the Russian opened the file, the video player opened up once again – only this time, it was audio. And he could hear a conversation between a man and a woman.

" _ **I'm happy to report, Madame President, that the test.. was a complete success"**_

" _ **I see – everything went to plan?"**_

" _ **Yes, ma'am. Those who were caught up in what happened, they never stood a choice"**_

" _ **Excellent. What are the chances the evidence will lead back to us?"**_

" _ **None".**_

" _ **..that's a relief. Good job, Evans. Things are going nicely"**_

The conversation abruptly came to an end. Benediktov looked like a statue – frozen in place and unable to do a thing. Walkman had not only attacked his country but had been the cause of his Elena's DEATH?! "Thank... _thank you, Jurgen. I.. I don't mean to be rude, but I need time to think_ " he said before slamming the laptop shut.

Back in DC, Cannavale walked up to behind Henderson, inquisitive. "There hasn't actually been an attack in Russia, has there?" he asked. Henderson simply smirked and turned around. "No. But considering he's been pretty much non-communicative the last 19 hours, there's no way that Benediktov would doubt the words of one of his closest associates" he said. Cannavale frowned but seemed to accept his logic. "And before you ask – no, Benediktov's daughter is not dead. But by the time he finds out, he'll have gone beyond the neutral zone. He'll have stepped into a war zone" Henderson finished and he moved to go in front of the window, watching the rain hammer down outside.

On the submarine, Benediktov threw his hands up against his head – Walkman had attacked Mother Russia, killed his daughter in the process? He pulled open a drawer on his desk and pulled out a small revolver. He looked at it before slowly pulling it out. He was giving serious contemplation to killing himself there and now; Elena was essentially his world and for him to find out she had been killed was just too much. He began to move the gun until it was pressed right up against his forehead. He fought with himself as he seriously considered the trigger and he was literally just about to...

..when he stopped. He stopped and started to lower the gun. His emotions turned to pure anger. With a snarl, he bashed the laptop off the desk and it landed with a smash, broken. "Walkman.." he hissed with pure venom. And it was then he knew what he had to do. The plan had been to use the submarine to destroy the military fleet above them and then launch the missiles, before making his way to DC and then infiltrating Guardstrom, intent on using Walkman as a means of plunging the United States of America into a war as a way of vengeance for America's involvement in Europe. But now it all changed. He was going to make his way to DC but he was going to annihilate Guardstrom just as they had annihilated Eastern Cell. But then he realized something. Putting the gun away, he moved out of the office and looked up at the stairs. He had a plan but he was going to need to do the one thing he couldn't afford to do.

05:31:26AM

–

05:36:08AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

As the rain thundered down on the military blockade, Captain Grimes looked out at the ocean through his binoculars – nothing. The only movement that had taken place over the past ten minutes was the Oslo being buffeted by the storm-struck waves. "Any word from the helicopter?" he asked to no-one in particular. "Yes, sir. The helicopter carrying Bauer will be in the skies above us within the next 150 seconds approximately" a petty officer replied, as he kept a close eye on the communications. "Good. Something doesn't feel right – I can't figure out what" Grimes replied as he looked back through the binoculars.

And just as there was a sudden explosion of water slightly in the distance. Within that explosion, something shot up and out of the water at speed. "What the hell?!" the Oslo captain practically shouted as he tried to follow the object that shot up from the water. And something that proved to be the last thing he did as a massive explosion ripped through the bridge of the Oslo, followed by the whole destroyer erupting into a fireball. Across all the other vessels, including the Columbia and Olympia, everyone found themselves scrambling into position as the news came in. Up in the skies, the UH-1Y Venom flew through the clouds as the rain pelted the windscreen. The whole helicopter was starting to shake uncontrollably and the pilot was trying what he could to stop it flying apart. "How much longer?" Jack yelled as loud as he could with all the rattling almost drowning him. "60 seconds!" the pilot yelled back. As the former CTU operative tried to stop himself from falling over with the shaking, Belcheck suddenly noticed something in the distance. Normally in this weather, it would have been barely noticed but within all the dark clouds, the Serb couldn't help but think he had seen an orange flash.

On the ocean surface, another explosion ripped through the Oslo, munitions going off on different parts of the sinking destroyer. Below the surface, Krylenko looked through the Borei-class submarine's periscope – whilst it wasn't above the surface, she could make out something ripping through the hull of the destroyer with complete ease. "Direct hit!" she declared. Dragusha opened up a small switch on his console and spoke into his headset. "What should we target next, General?" he asked. " _Get Krylenko to see if she can spot the submarines. If yes,_ fire a torpedo" Benediktov replied as he made his way through the bowels of the ship and discreetly throwing away one of the remote launchers. Suddenly, he stopped and smiled grimly. Checking to make sure he was still holding a steel briefcase, he quickly made his way into the small vessel marked "Escape pod".

"See if you can locate any of the submarines!" the Albanian nodded and Krylenko moved into action, moving the periscope slightly to her left and then her right. "Found one! Dead ahead!" she replied. "Preparing torpedo for fire" Dragusha declared as he pressed down on the button hidden under the switch. Inside the torpedo hatch, one of the torpedoes was being armed. Onboard the Columbia, the bridge was a-wash with chaos. Commander Stanton was trying to shout out his orders, when he was tapped on the shoulder. "Sir! Sensors indicate a large vessel, about 100 feet in front of him!" the lieutenant yelled at the top of his lungs. Dismissing the group of petty officers, Stanton followed the lieutenant over to an ensign stationed at the control panel controlling each of the torpedoes. As he looked down at the scanner, he could see a large object on the screen. As the lieutenant said, approximately 100 feet in front of them. The commander was aware that with this kind of submarine, a Borei-class vessel could not be tracked by radar unless it was almost right on top of them. "Prepare to fire torpedoes, one and two!" he ordered. On the outside of the vessel, two of the hatches opened up to reveal torpedoes inside.

"Firing now" Dragusha said as he flicked a blue switch. Seconds later, the torpedo launched. 90 feet from the Columbia. 80 feet. 70 feet.

"Fire on my command!" Stanton ordered but the ensign interrupted, the start of his reply overlapping the end of the Commander's. "Sir! Torpedo fired from the enem-" he started but he never got the chance to finish. As the Russian torpedo hit it's target, smashing into one of the Columbia's torpedoes. A massive explosion just ripped through the bottom of the vessel, followed by another big one as the other torpedo being prepared to fire exploded. On the Columbia's bridge, everyone was practically thrown aside as the explosions continued... before there was one so big that the shock-waves that followed split seconds after it slammed straight into the underneath of the carrier, sending everyone flying off their feet on the bridge. Finally, the Columbia began to fall downwards, explosions still rocking it, towards the ocean bed. On the bridge of the carrier, the officer in charge of communications hauled himself to his feet.

"Get me the White House, pronto!" he shouted to the nearest man available who nodded rapidly as he pulled himself up. "You two, get down to the engine room. Find out what hit us!" he saw the commanding officer shout at two petty officers, instructing them to check the carrier's most critical sector for any signs of damage. As the rain pelted the windows of the bridge, the communications officer straightened his headset and he held onto the control panel as tightly as he could, with the carrier still shaking from the violent weather. "Sir, you're patched through to the White House" he quickly heard. "This is the Naval carrier John C. Stennis calling the President! I repeat _, this is the Naval carrier John C. Stennis.. ..the President, over!_ " he yelled..

–

 **White House**

.. which was picked up in the underground bunker. Novick scrambled towards the radio transmitter in the possession of a Naval Admiral, who handed the receiver to him. "John C. Stennis, this is President Novick. We hear you but just barely. What's the situation?" Novick asked. At times, it was almost like he was hearing static. But finally, a clear answer came through. " _We've engaged the enemy. The Oslo's been destroyed,_ we've lost contact with one of the submarine's. We need backup, we've heard nothing from Bauer!" the officer yelled into it.

" _Stay calm, son!_ Reinforcements are on the way. Bauer should be above you any second now!" Novick replied. But as the officer started to reply, most of his speech was over-ridden with static. All he could make out were the words "help", "danger" and "explosions". He looked down towards the Admiral. "It's the weather, Mr President! It's interfering with all the communications – unless we're close, we get static!" he insisted. Novick sighed in frustration. "If things get any worse, get them to switch to back-up communications! We can't afford to lose contact!" he ordered before speaking back into the receiver. "We're losing contact with you, son. Keep trying – we're gonna try and find a back-up. _I'm sure Bauer's not far from you_ " he urged. The officer just about made out what Novick was trying to say as he watched his commanding officer look out of the bridge with a pair of binoculars. His eyes shot up. "Bauer's here! Clear the deck!" he shouted.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Indeed, in the skies above the battle zone, the helicopter emerged from the dark clouds and back into the heavy weather. Jack and Belcheck peered out of the helicopter's see-through window. "My god.." Jack said quietly and in horror as he could clearly see the Oslo turning into an inferno as it slowly sank below the ocean surface. Suddenly, another explosion sent a fireball right in the direction of the helicopter. "BRACE YOURSELVES!" the pilot screamed as he forced the helicopter upwards, the fireball just barely passing the underneath. Belcheck slammed head-first into the window as Jack struggled to stay on his feet, a result of the helicopter's sudden swerve upwards. "Get me someone, anyone!" was all Jack needed to scream to the pilot, who immediately understood and turned towards the chopper's radio system.

On the Borei-class submarine, Krylenko was scanning through the periscope at the remains of the Columbia, as it started to sink further into the abyss of the ocean. "What's happening on the surface? Any other vessels arrived?" Dragusha asked as he lined up another torpedo ready to fire. "Bear with" the Ukranian replied as she moved the periscope upwards. She scanned the activity on the surface. "No sign of other vessels – or aircraft. The destroyer is still on fire... hang on, what's..?" she started only to suddenly stop as she moved to her left. Dragusha turned his head. "What is it?" he asked. Krylenko pulled her head back so that she was looking at the Albanian. "We DO have company. There's a helicopter flying above us and according to my research, it looks like a UH-1Y Venom" she explained. Dragusha looked deep in thought and a brainwave struck. "That.. that belongs to the Marine Corps. And from what I researched, it's a helicopter that's being used by the White House for government transport" he explained.

As Krylenko's eyes shot up, the Albanian turned back around. "General! We've just been joined by a government helicopter, no doubt sent by the White House" he said into his headset, completely unaware that Benediktov was now inside the escape pod and sitting patiently. He rose an eyebrow. "I see – thank you, Dragusha. Let me know if it hits the target" he said as he opened up the steel briefcase and pulled out another remote launcher. Opening up a small panel on the back, he activated a green button – just as the hatch covering all the other MIRVed missiles opened up.

In the skies above the surface, Jack was talking into the radio. "Have you managed to pick anyone up from the Oslo?" he asked, watching the smoke from the inferno grow thicker and thicker. " _Negative, Mr Bauer –_ we've not been able to even enter the water surrounding the Oslo, let alone get close to save anyone. If you can get the chance, _you'll have to get the pilot to try and make any rescues_ " the commanding officer of the John C. Stennis replied and Jack sighed in frustration, whilst the pilot tried to steady the helicopter. "Ok, well.. give me a few minutes and we can try and land on your deck" he replied. The commanding officer was about to reply when he heard frantic shouting. He turned to see the two petty officers who he'd ordered down to the engine room coming up to him frantically. One didn't even finish saluting before he started explaining. "Sir, we've found out what it was that's hit us. It was the Columbia, exploding! _Like as if someone had shot a missile at it from close range!_ " was what he had to say, which was something Jack and everyone else on the helicopter heard as well.

" _You heard that, Jack?_ " the carrier's commanding officer said finally. "Yeah. Yeah, I heard. Permission to come aboard?" the former agent responded and then requested. But as the commanding officer responded, no-one had noticed that Belcheck was staring out at the ocean through the window. He appeared deep in thought, almost like he was calculating something. Suddenly, his eyes slowly began to widen as horror settled in. If the petty officer had reported that Benediktov had to have been really close to the Columbia, then chances were... that they were flying right above him and possibly in his line of fire. Instinct kicked in and he pulled his gun out, shooting rapidly at the helicopter door which failed and blasted out into the stormy weather. The sudden loss of compression led to the pilot very nearly sending the helicopter sideways as he fought for control. Jack was blown back towards the seats and would have nearly fallen from the helicopter if not for Belcheck grabbing him and the pilot managing to wrestle control back.

"What the hell are you doing?" one of the Marines snapped at Belcheck. "We're in Benediktov's line of fire! You need to move NOW!" the Serb yelled back. On the surface, however, the commanding officer of the carrier was peering through his binoculars at what was happening with the helicopter when the officer manning the radio yelled in horror. "SIR! LOOK AHEAD" he screamed and the officer looked ahead, just as he saw a geyser of water shoot up like as if something had been fired from the depths. "BAUER! _Get out of the way!_ " he screeched into the radio and the pilot looked back around to see something coming right towards them. "Hold on!" he yelled as he pushed the helicopter stick upwards, the chopper gaining height as it did. But it wasn't enough as a missile slammed into it. The resulting explosion and the shock-waves slammed right into the back of Belcheck who was still holding onto Jack. The two fell out of the helicopter head-first and plummeted towards the water, as the UH-1Y exploded in a ball of fire. The burning wreckage began to fall towards the ocean surface, as Jack and Belcheck hit the water.

The radio operator and his commanding officer could only star in horror. "Get in touch with the White House. Let them know of what just happened" the commanding officer said quietly as he walked towards the bridge's window, in the direction of where the helicopter had crashed. Seconds passed by as he saw the wreckage disappear from immediate view and below the surface. "Sir! I can't reach anyone, this storm's wrecked all our radio capabilities" the operator said mournfully. But his superior officer could only look back at him, a look of fear and worry on his face.

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

Walkman gently stroked the hair of a sleeping Heather – the younger Walkman had been woken up on the orders of her mother and as soon as she'd arrived in her office, she'd fallen back asleep. At that moment, there was a gentle knocking on the door and Walkman looked up to see Evans poking his head around the door. Silently waving her hand, Walkman indicated for her aide to come in. "We've had some developments" Evans said quietly.

"What kind of developments?" Walkman asked, curious. "Well, the satellites picked this up literally just now. Seems the American military mobilized a blockade not far off the East Coast" the younger man explained as he showed the first and then the second of about five satellite photos. Before Walkman could ask, Evans switched the photos around. "Look at that. One of the ships has been practically destroyed. Can only mean one thing.." he said grimly. Walkman nodded. "Benediktov. He's closing in" she said. "Yeah – now for all we know, the military could still stop him. But at this rate, I think we should consider moving you and Heather underground" Evans recommended. Walkman turned away. "Anything on Henderson?" she asked. "I've got people looking for him but it's essentially impossible in this weather. That's why I wanted to move you underground at the earliest chance, Madame President".

Walkman started to mull things over, first looking at Heather and then her aide. "Keep monitoring the networks. If anything happens with either Henderson or Benediktov, let me know immediately" she ordered. Evans looked a little concerned, it was almost like as if his superior was trying to avoid the inevitable. But he finally nodded. "Ma'am" he replied as he turned to leave. "Chris, wait" Walkman suddenly said and Evans turned back around. "I appreciate your concern and I know you're trying to protect me. But I'll be fine, don't worry" the female President assured. Nodding and giving a slight smile, Evans left. As he quietly closed the door, Walkman sighed. She knew of the threats both Walkman and Benediktov posed for certain. But she needed to stay one step ahead of them and if part of that meant not going underground when the chance arose, then frankly, so be it.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

With the rain pouring down so heavily, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who would consider the ocean surface to be calm. Below the surface, the submarine was edging closer and closer to the military blockade. "Any sign of survivors, Krylenko?" Dragusha asked almost as though he had been asking repeatedly until he got an answer. "I'm telling you, Dragusha – I've scanned the area once. Twice. Even thrice! I can't see anything!" the Ukranian national snapped back as she began another scan of the surrounding water with the periscope. Apart from perhaps a few bits of helicopter wreckage and remnants of the Columbia, there was nothing she could see. "There, I've checked again. I think we can safely assume everyone on that helicopter is dead" she finally declared. The Albanian nodded. "Did you hear that, General?" he spoke into his headset. " _I did indeed_ " Benediktov replied as he scanned a small manual on the escape pod that explained how to release it in case of emergency. He frowned before replying. "Dragusha, I know this request may seem bizarre – _but I wouldn't be making it if I didn't think it critical_ " he said.

Dragusha rose an eyebrow. "What's up, sir?" he asked. " _I need you to bring the submarine to the surface_ – and before you say anything, I know it sounds crazy but I have a plan. For now though, _surface the sub!_ " the Russian explained. The Albanian looked at Krylenko like as if their leader had finally lost the plot. The Ukranian shrugged, indicating he should go along with it. Finally, Dragusha replied. "Very well, General. Preparing to surface" he agreed. Inside the escape pod, Benediktov returned the manual to it's place and quickly made sure the door to the pod was locked tight. All he could do was sit and wait. On the outside, the Borei-class vessel prepared to surface. But little did anyone know that swimming alongside the submarine, trying to find somewhere to grab onto, were Jack and Belcheck. The Serb mobster was able to haul himself onto the top of the torpedo bay and haul Jack up alongside him and just in time as the submarine began rising upwards towards the surface. The two exchanged a look of confusion at why the Yuri Dolgorukiy was surfacing, just as they emerged back into the rough and stormy weather.

"Submarine surfaced, General. _Now what?_ " Dragusha asked pointedly as the Russian General immediately sprung back to his feet and opened up a panel. "What do you think? _Attack the Americans! This was meant to throw them off-guard!_ " he asked, sounding as though someone had done something stupid in front of him. The Albanian couldn't understand it but said nothing as he immediately began preparing torpedoes. On the outside, Belcheck looked ahead for what felt like hours before he finally noticed the outstretched hand offer from Jack. He gratefully took it as he noticed that the Oslo had practically sunk below the surface . "I think we're the only survivors" the Serb said quietly as he tried looking around for the helicopter. But Jack had other things on his mind. "How did you know we were getting to get hit?" he finally asked. Belcheck sighed. "Instinct – if there's one thing being in the mob taught me, it's to rely on instinct" he explained.

But then, not literally a split second after he finished, there was a sudden rushing sound and a torpedo fired out of its tube beneath the two men; it travelled at such a speed that it slammed straight into the John C. Stennis before anyone could react, exploding on impact. The two men covered their eyes as the carrier erupted into a massive fireball, with some of the flames smashing into other Naval ships. "Come on! We have to get inside!" Jack yelled as he scrambled towards the hatch at the top of the vessel. But as the men raced to the top, the other Naval vessels began to return fire – now that they had a target, they knew where to fire. Bullets from the various Navy guns began smashing into the hull of the submarine, all barely making a dent. But because they were firing on all available corners of the Russian vessel, it also meant they came close to hitting the two men scrambling to the submarine's hatch on the top. Belcheck made it there first, just as several bullets either flew above him or bounced off him as they had bounced off the hull of the Yuri Dolgorukiy.

Inside the vessel, Krylenko was still using the periscope – only to pull her head away, eyes raised in suspicion. "Did you hear that?" she asked. Dragusha looked up and listened, only to seemingly hear nothing. "What are you on about?" he asked. "Keep listening" the Ukrainian insisted. Seconds went by and then came the sound of a clanging, almost like it was not that far from the bottom steps of the bridge. "We've got company" Dragusha realized – any other time, he would have grabbed his headset and alerted Benediktov. But not now. The amount of times they had to rely on him to tell them what to do, after all. And besides, he was sure they could take care of this on their own. "Find a weapon. Go to near the hatch and hide. Ambush whoever it is as soon as they get in" the Albanian ordered. Krylenko pulled a face. "But then there'll be no-one to man this. You'll be firing blind" she reasoned. "I know – but please. Just go" Dragusha insisted. Finally, the Ukranian agreed and headed towards the steps.

On the outside, as Belcheck tried to find a way to open the hatch from the outside, Jack hauled the upper half of his body up and onto the hatch area – and turned his head just in time to see a ballistic missile being fired into the air from one of the Naval cruisers. "Damn it! Belcheck, hurry up!" he yelled, realizing it was coming straight for them. After seconds of battling, the Serb finally got the hatch open and pulled it open, just as the missile slammed into the water mere feet away from them and exploded. A huge geyser of water smashed into the submarine and would have swept Jack away had it not been for Belcheck grabbing a hold of him and hauling him up. "Let's go" he insisted and he started to lower himself into the vessel. Jack began to follow suite, only for him to notice another hatch on the submarine opening up. Intrigued and immediately suspicious, he watched – forgetting that the hatch was still open and rain was pouring into the submarine. "JACK!" Belcheck yelled, unaware that Dragusha was on the bridge. The yell of Jack's name immediately attracted the Albanian's attention and he began mouthing the word he heard several times.

Slowly but surely, the pieces began to fit together and this time, he did scramble for his headset. "General Benediktov, come in! _This is urgent_ " he said forcefully but very quietly. The Russian, ready to fire the latest missile, rose an eyebrow. "Go ahead, Dragusha. But why are you being so quiet?" he responded. " _We've been invaded –_ don't ask me how, but Jack Bauer is onboard" Dragusha explained. This was something Benediktov did not see coming and was for once completely speechless. Silently, he looked down at the launcher. And launched the missile. Outside, the bottom half of his body still not quite in through the submarine's hatch, Jack was still intently watching the missile hatch and ignoring Belcheck's yells of his name. Suddenly, a missile was launched from the hatch and flew into the sky for just a few seconds, before coming back down and slamming onto the Naval cruiser that fired the ballistic missile. Jack turned his head to the side and threw his hand up to cover his eyes as explosions ripped through the cruiser. In doing so, it was only then he noticed Belcheck yelling at Jack. "JACK! COME ON!" the Serb shouted again and finally, the former CTU agent made his way into the submarine, locking the hatch as he did.

As soon as he was fully up right, Jack looked towards Belcheck – only the Serb was walking slightly forward and away from him, a hand on one ear like he was cupping it. Jack walked up alongside him and gave him an inquisitive look. "Listen. The bridge.." Belcheck whispered. Indeed, on the bridge, Dragusha was in conversation with Benediktov. " _I can trust you and Krylenko to get rid of Bauer?_ " the Russian asked over the headset. "Of course, General. But I have to ask – _where are you right now?_ " the Albanian replied. "Don't worry about me – just take the submarine and put us back underwater. _I'll take care of the rest_ " Benediktov replied. Dragusha was almost tempted to question the order given to him as it didn't make sense, but he sighed and shook his head. Maybe there's some sense as to what the General is trying to do, he thought to himself, as he flicked several switches on his console. On the outside, the submarine was still moving forward before suddenly submerging.

Below the surface, on the bridge of the Olympia submarine, a petty officer was scanning the area of water around the vessel with the periscope. "Anything that suggests what happened to the Columbia?" a lieutenant asked, desperation lacing his voice. The petty officer shook his head. "No.. I can see bits of wreckage, but nothing that suggests what happen... hold on!" he said before stopping and immediately moving the periscope to the left. "What is it?" the lieutenant asked. Finally, the officer pulled his head back. "What do you see, sir?" he asked. The lieutenant grabbed a hold of the periscope and looked into it. It was the Yuri Dolgorukiy and it was almost fully submerged. The lieutenant pulled his head back and immediately turned on his heel. "Salinger! How quickly can you get a torpedo armed and ready to fire?!" he ordered. The officer he called Salinger looked up. "At this speed, 50 seconds".

"Get on it! The Russians are right ahead of us – I see us having one chance to stop them here and now!" the lieutenant made it clear. "Yes, sir!" Salinger nodded and raced out of the submarine's bridge, picking up two other officers at the same time. "Do you think they'll do it, sir?" the petty officer asked out of the blue and the lieutenant turned to see the officer looking through the periscope before pulling his head back out. "We'll have to get close and before they fall out of our sight. But this could be our only chance!"

As for the Borei-class vessel, it was now fully submerged and heading lower and lower into the depths of the dark ocean. Onboard, Jack and Belcheck had moved to just out of sight from the bottom of the bridge. "On the count of three.." Jack said quietly as he pulled his gun out and made sure it was loaded. Belcheck nodded, quickly making sure his gun was fully loaded as well.

"One...

Two...

Thr..."

As the Serb mobster moved to come out of the shadows, the countdown was suddenly interrupted by a yell and the sounds of a machine gun firing bullets. Belcheck dived for the floor as the bullets landed around him with a clang. Jack emerged from the shadows slowly, pointing his gun in all directions as he tried to help the Serb back to his feet. However, the sounds of more bullets being fired above him force the former agent on top of Belcheck. "DROP YOUR WEAPONS!" a female voice yelled angrily and Jack looked up to see Krylenko, machine gun in hands. Seconds passed by and then the Ukranian fired another bullet into the air. "I.. SAID.. DROP! YOUR! WEAPONS!" she repeated, more forcibly and firing another bullet into the air every time she finished a word. This seemed to do the trick and Jack, slowly but surely, threw the gun out of his immediate reach. "And your friend!" Krylenko ordered. The former agent looked down at Belcheck, who didn't need to be told twice as he also pushed his gun out of immediate reach.

"On your feet!" from the bridge, Dragusha could hear Krylenko ordering the two intruders to get up. He needed to prepare the last torpedo in the case they came across the second submarine and then try and help the Ukrainian. Inside the escape pod, meanwhile, Benediktov checked what looked like a pocket watch before snapping it closed. "Come on, come on.." he muttered. Outside, the Olympia edged closer and closer to the Yuri Dolgorukiy. The lieutenant was keeping a watchful eye on the Borei-class vessel, just in the event that it tried to do anything. " _Sir, this is Salinger! Torpedo's ready to go!_ " the officer yelled over the radio. Not needing to be told twice, the lieutenant turned towards the officer operating the torpedo hatch. "DO IT!" he ordered. On the outside, the hatch covering one of the torpedoes opened up.

Inside the Yuri Dolgorukiy, Dragusha flicked a switch on the control panel and picked up a gun sitting to his left. Outside the bridge, Krylenko was edging closer and closer to Jack and Belcheck who were both on their feet and hands raised above their heads. Inside the escape pod, after one final check of his pocket watch, Benediktov gave a slight smile. "It's time.." he whispered and he immediately pulled on a panel inside the pod, revealing a level-like switch. He pulled it firmly down before back up again. In the dark waters, the pod appeared to be attached firmly to the submarine before suddenly starting to float away. It floated up a few centimetres, then another few and then another few until it was right above the vessel it was once attached to. On the bridge, Dragusha was ready to depart only for a warning alarm to start. " **WARNING – ESCAPE POD IS DEPLOYED. REPEAT, ESCAPE POD IS DEPLOYED** " a voice stated in Russian. The Albanian stopped cold. Escape pod? Deployed? He immediately turned away and headed back towards the panel.

Back inside the pod, Benediktov pulled a grey box from inside his jacket sleeve out and opened it up. He sighed, knowing what he had to do. "Goodbye.." he whispered and pressed down on the button inside. Within seconds, a massive explosion ripped through the back of the submarine, followed by another and another and another, all three coming in succession and all in different parts of the vessel. But it was the explosion at the very back that did the most damage as the Yuri Dolgorukiy almost swung upwards – sending Krylenko flying onto a wall panel and then Jack and Belcheck onto the wall panel opposite. All that separated them was the walkway between the bridge and the rest of the vessel. All around the submarine in the areas where there had been explosions, water started rushing in at a very fast rate and started to flood the back of the vessel. The submarine swung even more upwards until it was almost pointing upwards at the surface. As the water began rising, Jack and Belcheck and Krylenko were saved by the virtual of the panels they were now lying on. But Dragusha wasn't so lucky – the explosions had sent him flying around certain points of the bridge and the submarine now swinging upwards sent him flying backwards.

Unfortunately for him, he was then sent backwards through the open doorway of the bridge and straight towards the rising water. Screaming all the way, he fell right past the three survivors. "DRAGUSHA!" Krylenko cried in horror as she saw him fall and she turned her head so that it was facing downwards, just in time to see the Albanian hit what was now the ground with a clang and a splash. On the Olympia, the lieutenant was watching everything with a combination of shock and bewilderment. He shook his head to check and see if he was seeing this right. "Sir! The torpedo?" he suddenly heard and he looked around to see all eyes on him. "Abort torpedo launch. We might not need it. Get Commander Gibson up here, pronto!" he ordered. Surprised, the officer about to launch the torpedo began to prepare the sequence of disengaging whilst a petty officer left the bridge, presumably in search of Commander Gibson.

Un-noticed by pretty much everyone, the escape pod was now moving further and further away from the submarine and up towards the surface. Finally, one last explosion ripped through the bottom of the Borei-class vessel and it moved approximately 90 degrees backwards so that it was no longer directly upwards towards the surface, but was still facing it. Inside the escape pod, Benediktov could feel the slight shock-waves of the explosions from the submarine rocking the pod. "Good – it's done" he muttered before looking upwards. "Now to get to the surface.." he added.

Back onboard the Olympia, a tall navy commander walked onto the bridge. "Commander Gibson on the bridge!" a petty officer and everyone, no matter what their position was, stood to attention. Gibson waved his hand to indicate to them they could finish what they were doing before he walked up towards the periscope. "What's going on, Rick?" he asked quietly. The lieutenant, identified as Rick, moved backwards. "See for yourself, sir" he simply replied. Gibson looked through the periscope – to his surprise, he could see the Yuri Dolgorukiy at an angle pointing upwards and what looked like smoke coming from the bag. Like something had happened onboard. The commander pulled his head back. "Get me the commanders of the ships still standing. We need to plan our next move!" he ordered.

–

05:46:12AM

 **Washington DC**

Cannavale was now standing around looking at the rain hit the windows, as Henderson grimly scanned his laptop. On the screen was what looked like satellite footage – and it was looking down directly on the blockade. As the seconds ticked by, his grim demeanour quickly turned into surprise and he closed the laptop.

"Well. Seems things are working in our favour, Cannavale" he remarked as he walked up to behind Cannavale. The mercenary looked at him. "So how?" he asked, his voice showing not that much confidence. "I have been monitoring the goings-on in the North Atlantic. Seems quite a lot has taken place since my little chat with Benediktov. There were several explosions below the surface of the Atlantic not long ago and according to radio communication, the Yuri Dolgorukiy has been immobilized. It's now pointing upwards at an angle towards the surface instead of being straight down. That can only mean one thing – we got through to Benediktov! He's abandoned the vessel" Henderson explained. Cannavale rose an eyebrow. "How can you be sure that that was him?" he wasn't convinced that the Russian was still alive. "Because shortly after the explosions, an escape pod came to the surface. It was hard but I was able to scan the interior for heat signatures – there was someone onboard and I can assure you that someone was Benediktov" Henderson replied, the confidence in his voice strong.

Though he still was not convinced, Cannavale nodded. "What now?" he asked. "A very good question, my friend. We sit... and we follow the action until we see what we need" Henderson replied as he opened the laptop back up.

05:48:16AM

–

05:51:49AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Flying low above the surface of the ocean was a Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion, with two occupants onboard – the pilot and the radio operator. "I see. Right, thank you... we'll make sure to be careful... is there any ship left that we can land on? Ok... Right, we'll see you soon" in-between flying the chopper above the water, the pilot looked several times at the radio operator, curious at what was being said. Finally, the operator took off his headset and gave an unhappy sigh. "What's wrong, Nick?" the pilot asked. "Well.. it seems the Russian vessel has been stopped. The commander of the Olympia submarine reported that it's at an angle and appears to be immobile" Nick explained. Danny rose an eyebrow as it seemed like his friend wasn't finished "...but the blockade has taken some heavy hits – they've lost the carrier as well as the second submarine and a destroyer. Death toll unknown and as it stands, we've now come out here for no reason" the operator explained. He looked upset.

Danny bit his lip. "I'm sure Daphne survived. The Marines are not people you wanna mess with after all.." he tried to assure his friend, putting his hand on his shoulder. That seemed to cheer Nick up at least. The pilot looked back ahead and after spotting something, pulled out a telescope. "Hang about, we're nearly there. We'll find out what we can... and get new orders at the same time" he decided. He pulled the level controlling the helicopter upwards and the chopper rose higher into the air, whilst Nick could see thick black smoke in the distance. They were nearly at the blockade. Finally, it flew to above the smoking carrier and flew in a big circle, Nick trying to find a place to land. Finally, the pilot looked through the mirror and saw what looked like two petty officers on a destroyer waving glow sticks. "Think we've found a place to land" he confirmed as he flew the helicopter in the direction of the destroyer.

Little did anyone know, however, was that behind the destroyer and just floating about on the surface... was the escape pod. A wave began pushing it closer and closer to the destroyer, before it hit the ship with a slight clang. After several seconds, the hatch opened up – and Benediktov's head emerged. He grimly scanned the area before looking up at the sound of what appeared to be a helicopter whirling. He couldn't actually see anything but he could clearly hear a helicopter in front of the destroyer. Heaving himself out of the escape pod, the Russian looked around one last time to check if the coast was clear before jumping into the destroyer. As he hauled himself up, he kicked his leg against the pod and it began floating away. Slowly creeping along the edge, even as the water and heavy rain smashed against him, he managed to move onto the ship's main deck, but firmly out of sight as he watched the helicopter edge closer and closer to the deck.

The General was starting to wonder just the hell a helicopter would be doing trying to land both in this weather and when the Americans weren't even sure if the Russian submarine had been stopped yet. Either they've found it already or they're stupider than I thought, Benediktov thought to himself. And then an idea hit him. He needed to find a way of getting to DC. And that helicopter might just be the ticket. He watched as the Super Stallion finally touched down on the deck. An officer already on the deck ran up to the pilot's side of the chopper, just as Danny stuck his head out. "Mr Howard! As I'm sure you've been told, things have changed. We now need you to fly back to DC and pick up some reinforcements from NCIS" the officer explained. Danny rose his eyebrow. "Why reinforcements? From what I heard, the submarine's not going anywhere" he asked. "Those reinforcements are experienced divers. We've spoken with Russia, this is essentially now a mission to salvage the vessel and find Benediktov!" came the reply.

Danny nodded. "Is this anyone or anything we can take back to DC?" he asked, hopeful. The officer appeared deep in thought before something hit him. "Yes! Yes, actually there is! The oxygen tanks we have got damaged in the attack, we'll need new ones if we're gonna try and dive underwater" he said as several petty officers approached the helicopter clutching half a dozen metal boxes. The pilot nodded. "On it, get what you need onboard and we'll be out of your hair as soon as possible" he replied. Benediktov watched the petty officers loading the boxes onboard. If he wanted to start any chance of getting to DC through the chopper, he would have to move now. Looking to the right to ensure no-one could see him, he crept along underneath the bridge right up against the metal. As soon as he felt the coast was clear, he ran forward and pressed up against the metal though not so loud that anyone could hear him. As the seconds passed and the Russian once again scanned the area, he moved silently along the helicopter towards the cargo door situated at the very back. As he reached it, he took one last look to make sure he wasn't being watched – confident he was not, he clambered onboard and squeezed himself between several of the boxes which had been stacked up on top of each other. He pushed his knees up against his body and kept himself silent as the last of the boxes were placed onto the chopper.

At the front of the Super Stallion, the officer came up to Danny. "That's the last of them. Get back here quickly, we're not sure how long the submarine's gonna hold in it's current position!" he ordered. At that, Danny nodded. "We'll be back as soon as we can" he replied and promptly shut the pilot's window. The officer stepped back as the rotors on the chopper began to spin up to full speed. Carefully making sure no-one was close to the rotors, Danny pulled the lever upwards and the Super Stallion rose into the sky. As soon as it was at a safe enough height, it flew back in the direction that it came, past the remnants of the blockade. "Tell the Navy Yard to get their best divers ready – and some oxygen tanks while they're at it" Danny ordered and Nick nodded, immediately getting on the radio. At the back of the helicopter, Benediktov slowly made his way to his feet – but a sudden lurch of turbulence saw him smack into one of the boxes, which smashed onto the floor of the chopper.

Nick, having just finished talking with the Navy Yard, froze as soon as he heard the smash. "You hear that?" he asked. Danny frowned. "Didn't hear anything" he said. "I'm gonna go check the cargo area, just in case" the operator said as he took off his headset and made his way to the back of the helicopter, keeping himself steady to avoid falling forward. He looked amongst the cargo and after several seconds of scanning, noticed the fallen oxygen tank box. "False alarm! Was just the turbulence knocking over one of the boxes, we can sort it as soon as we've land..." he said only to stop near the end of the sentence. For standing right in front of him pointing a gun at his forehead was Benediktov. "Move" the Russian hissed and Nick nodded, turning around to head back to the cockpit. Danny had not taken notice of the fact his friend hadn't finished his sentence and was instead looking back out at the open sea. Benediktov and Nick moved closer and closer.

"Um.. Danny?" the radio operator said a little sheepishly. The pilot turned his head, only to be met with the gun pointed against him. "Do not be alarmed.. Danny. I simply need you and your friend to continue flying this helicopter for me" the General said calmly and simply. Looking towards Nick, who nodded sheepishly, Danny nodded. "Right, sure. Well, I'll need Nick sitting back down for that" he said, trying to prioritize his friend's safety. "But of course" Benediktov said, pushing the radio operator towards his seat. Nick nervously re-took his seat and Danny looked up. "Where do you want us to fly you? Not that there's much where you can flown, considering the weather" the pilot said, nerves settling into his speech. "Relax, Danny. In fact, the location I have in mind is the location you're headed to anyway. Washington DC, if I'm correct?" the Russian said. Danny and Nick exchanged a look of bewilderment. How could he have known they were flying to DC? "Ye.. yes. DC is where we're headed" the radio operator replied.

"Excellent. In that case, as long as you try not to deviate from the flight-plan, I may just spare your lives when we land" Benediktov said. He promptly looked behind him and headed towards one of the seats positioned between the cockpit and the cargo area. As he sat down, he quickly checked the steel briefcase – opening it up, he was relieved to see that the launchers were still in one piece. "When I get a hold of you, Walkman. When I get a hold of Guardstrom..." he hissed as he closed the briefcase. "..you're gonna wish you'd never tried to cross me!"

–

 **Washington DC**

"And with that, Cannavale, the next stage of the mission is a go!" Henderson said suddenly. The mercenary looked up and rose his eyebrow. "I've been tracking the goings-on at the blockade through the satellite and that heat signature from the escape pod? It's now onboard a helicopter heading for DC! Benediktov is on his way and when he lands, I want the first person to see him to be you!" Henderson explained further and declared. Cannavale gave off a facial expression that gave the impression that he had no idea how that was going to happen. "Well.. it's simple. If I give you this, it'll enable you to track the heat signature the satellite just picked up. When the helicopter arrives in DC's airspace, you'll be able to follow it anywhere across the city" the mercenary was given a small round tracker as Henderson explained what it was. Cannavale didn't seem very happy at the thought of having to follow a Russian general but then he thought of Vicky. He finally nodded. "Alright" he agreed.

"Excellent. You'll also need this, just in case" Henderson added, passing him a gun. The mercenary checked to see that it was fully loaded to which it was. "What happens if I need to contact you?" he asked. "I guarantee that won't be needed – but I'll be monitoring your activity and should I see something go awry, I'll let you know straight away" Henderson insisted. Cannavale frowned at that but said nothing, instead moving towards the door, sure in the belief that that was all that needed to be say. "Actually! There is one other thing!" the mercenary turned around, only to be met with Henderson firing a gun against him. The bullet entered his right arm and he fell backwards to the group, screaming in pain. "What the hell, asshole?" he yelled. "When you find Benediktov, he'll expect you to have battle scars. No one would be foolish enough to try and spend their time looking for him and not be injured in anyway" Henderson said calmly. Cannavale looked at the wound on his arm. "Is there an exit wound?" he was asked. He quickly scanned his arm and found none. "That's good – as soon as you find Benediktov, you can get it fixed up. But until then, do not stop until you find him. Do whatever he orders, get close to him!" Henderson said, his tone of voice indicating he was quite clear.

For a moment, it looked like Cannavale was getting ready to throw the gun away but he finally made it to his feet and walked out of the room, towards the door. Henderson watched grimly before whispering. "Good luck"

–

 **White House**

Taking place in one of the meeting halls of the underground bunker was a discussion between several military officials. Suddenly, the door to the hall opened and Novick walked in, followed by Agent Yanes. Another Secret Service agent noticed him and immediately stood to attention – as soon as some of the officials spotted him, they looked up and stood to attention upon seeing the interim President. "At ease. How are we doing with regaining contact with the blockade?" Novick asked. "Not good, sir. We've tried nearly every communication channel we can think of and we've still got nothing. Got O'Brien working on one now, but nothing yet" the Naval Admiral who had been on the radio with the Naval carrier before communication was cut off replied mournfully.

Novick threw his hands up. "What good is our military if we can't manage to keep contact with them?" he yelled. Suddenly, Chloe raced in, headset on. "Mr President! I've made contact with the fleet, you need to come with me now!" she exclaimed before racing out. Not needing to be told twice, Novick swiftly followed Chloe and was followed in succession by Yanes and several of the military officials. Racing into one of the rooms, Chloe opened up the laptop she was working on fully. "You still with me, Albany?" she asked. " _Yep, can just-about hear you, ma'am_ " a gruff voice replied just as Novick raced into the room. "What have you got?" he asked as he moved closer to the laptop. "I made contact with the radio operator on the cruiser Albany. You're on with the President!" she explained, first talking with Novick and then talking into the laptop.

"What's been going on, Albany?" the President asked. " _Well I've got good news and bad news, sir –_ bad news is we've lost the John C. Stennis, two of the destroyers and a submarine to the Russian vessel. Casualty estimate unknown and one of the other ships suffered damage" the operator explained as he looked out at the ocean. " _What about the good news?_ " Novick asked. "Well.. _don't ask us how, but the Russian submarine has been stopped. The Olympia submarine reported a series of explosions happening on the Yuri Dolgorukiy and it's_ been immobilized!" the operator replied back. Novick sighed a breath of relief and the military officials almost came close to cheering out loud in their delight. "One other question – did the helicopter we send you arrive?" Chloe asked suddenly. There was a long silence. " _It did arrive.._ but it wasn't in the air for very long at all. A missile was shot at it; it crashed into the ocean. We're looking for survivors but it _doesn't look likely_ " the operator said mournfully. The hope in Chloe's eyes sank at that news. Novick looked away as the shock took him over – did Jack lose his life in the attack? "Keep.. keep us informed" Chloe said sadly as she closed the laptop. She sat back with a sigh. "Come on, Jack.. you have to be alive" she said so quietly it was almost like she was mouthing her words.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

The first thing that Jack heard was the sound of creaking metal being crunched, followed by what appeared to be rushing water. As he tried to sit up-right, he looked around to see if either one of Belcheck or the woman who had tried to take the two of them hostage were still there. The woman was, on the other side of what had now become a steep drop, but the Serb was nowhere to be found. "Belcheck?" he asked groggily as he heaved himself to his feet. No response. "Belcheck?" he asked again, now more awake. Still no response. Jack would have called out again if not for the fact that he heard uneasy groans coming from the woman. She was coming around. Keeping his body steady, the former agent looked down at the hole and then across at the woman. He walked backwards and then ran forwards, jumping over the abyss – he just-about made it, landing with a clank next to the woman, who almost jumped up in shock. She looked up, terror on her face, at the angry American standing above her. "I'd get comfortable, you're not going anyway in a hurry" Jack hissed with anger.

"Jack!" a voice suddenly called and both he and the woman looked up to see a figure emerging at the top of the bridge. Belcheck. "Belcheck? What's..?" Jack asked, indicating to how they were in the position they were in. "The scanners haven't been able to give me much, but they've given me an idea at least. Those explosions we heard? They've damaged the bulkheads at the back of the vessel, water's surging in and fast!" the Serb explained. "Then why we at angle?" Krylenko asked suddenly, speaking in broken English in an attempt to come across as playing dumb. But at the same time, she was just as confused – how could such a vessel like the Yuri Dolgorukiy suffer the explosions that it did? "The bulkheads around this area are holding – but they won't for long. We're at an angle because of that" Belcheck explained. Jack started to look around, trying to see if there was a way out before the bulk-heads gave. "And Jack.. there's another thing" the Serb added.

Looking back ahead, the former agent nodded, indicating for the mobster to continue. "There was someone else on-board. Shortly before the first explosion, an escape pod detached from the vessel. Pretty sure it'll be on the surface by now" Belcheck explained. Jack frowned. Someone else on-board? And then it hit him. Benediktov. Benediktov was on that escape pod. They had him right in their grasp and he escaped. "Damn it" he whispered. Krylenko looked down in utter shock. Benediktov was the only other person on-board. If he escaped and didn't even try to help either her or Dragusha, then it meant he must have been behind the explosions. He had used her and Dragusha as a means of escape. "We have to get out of here. We have to get to the surface, now!" Jack insisted. Belcheck frowned. "I'm not sure what we can do, Jack. We can't get out through the hatch and make it to the surface, not at this depth. We'll drown!" he replied. He looked ahead at the rising water. Based on everything he'd seen, from the control panel to the sight of the water, he estimated that if they did nothing, they'd die within the hour. They had to get to the surface as Jack said, but their options were essentially limited. They were stuck.

–

06:00:00AM

* * *

So yeah... a huge lie told by Henderson has resulted in Benediktov abandoning the submarine, with Jack and Belcheck trapped aboard, and hijacking a helicopter headed towards DC, now hell-bent on destroying Guardstrom.. things are really hotting up.

PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW :D


	20. 20: 6am - 7am (WET)

HELLO! HELLO EVERYONE!

Before you start going crazy at me, I know exactly how long it has been since the last update and I'm truly sorry about that. I have long finished university (finally!) but let's just say that the last few months have been both a bit crazy and a bit of a struggle - for starters, someone I know really well at my uni has been under medical care since the end of April and whilst this person is on the mend, to avoid saying certain things, I'm just gonna say that the month of May proved to be hard to get through.

So here's the latest chapter - please rate and review and don't be put off by the length of time it'll likely be between now and the last 4 chapters.

DISCLAIMER: please read chapter 1.

* * *

20: 6am – 7am (WET):

 **The following takes place between 6am and 7am, Washington Eastern Time:**

06:00:01AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Through the periscope of the Olympia, not much had changed on the Russian submarine – it was still at an angle with the back of the vessel practically touching the ocean bed. But what Commander Gibson didn't know was that it was the bulk-heads at the front of the vessel keeping the Yuri Dolgorukiy in it's position. The bulk-heads at the back had collapsed which was why it was at the angle. Of course, Gibson couldn't see that. From the outside, the Russian submarine seemed perfectly intact.

"I can't make heads or tails of it – the vessel doesn't look damaged.." Gibson finally said as he pulled himself away from the periscope. "..but that doesn't give an explanation as to why it's at an angle?" the lieutenant, whom Gibson had identified as Rick, finished, noticing the unsure look on the Commander's face. "Precisely – I know exactly what that submarine can do. We need to get a closer look at it" Gibson replied. "Ahead of you on that, sir. We have three divers ready to do a sweep" a nearby petty officer reported as he handed what looked like a checklist to the lieutenant. "Good. But make sure they do just the one sweep. At this level, they'll be limited air and we can't risk losing good men – if they find something, send them straight back here" Gibson ordered. The petty officer nodded.

At that point, a hatch on the submarine opened up and the three divers emerged. As soon as the last diver was clear of the hatch, they started to make their way towards the Russian vessel. From first glimpses, it was exactly as what Gibson had thought – the Yuri Dolgorukiy did not look remotely damaged so it didn't make sense why it was at an upward angle. But it was when one of the divers moved towards the back of the vessel that things started to make sense. Namely because not only was there a massive hole on the underside but also a second massive hole towards the back near the rotors. Suddenly, there was a sudden creaking and the diver pushed back away just as the vessel appeared to collapse further towards the ocean bed. The diver's eyes shot up and it started to make sense – the bulk-heads! No doubt that the amount of water that was going in through the holes was putting pressure on the bulk-heads which were collapsing bit by bit. If they didn't move soon, every single bulk-head would collapse and then the whole vessel would land on the ocean-bed and kill off any chances of finding survivors.

The diver immediately signalled to the other divers, which proved to be a mistake – not that anything bad was about to happen which would spell danger for them but because at that moment, their attention was drawn away from the presence of the escape pod, the top half on the surface and the other half under the water. All one of the divers had to do was look up and they would have spotted it – they would have got someone on the surface to investigate and they would have realized that the escape pod was from the Yuri Dolgorukiy. But instead at that moment, they decided to head back to the Olympia. Inside the Russian vessel, meanwhile, the water continued to pour in and at such a rate that the water level was increasing and threatening the stability of the bulk-heads. Suddenly, another one gave out and with a loud bang, the entire vessel shook.

The shaking lasted for barely more than two or three seconds but it was still enough to send the vessel further down onto the ocean bed – and on the bridge, had it not been for the fact he had been holding onto the periscope, Belcheck would have been sent flying. He frowned; this just was not ideal, him trying to make his way round the bridge with the vessel at the angle it was at. But Jack had ordered him to do it, in an attempt to find something that would make Krylenko talk. "For the last time, TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW! YOU'VE WORKED WITH BENEDIKTOV, WHERE IS HE?!" he could hear Jack roar down the bridge steps. He had only been interrogating the Ukrainian woman for 5 minutes and the Serb mobster could tell that Jack was beginning to lose his patience. Which he was, as Jack angrily slammed Krylenko against the wall. "TELL ME!" he yelled again. But to his bewilderment and outrage, the Ukrainian was opting to play dumb by speaking in broken English. "Please, I don't know nothing! I'm just mechanic, trapped when horrible man stole Dolgorukiy!" she pleaded. Jack couldn't understand it – if it was any other person, there was a chance he would have believed him or her. But this woman not only openly held him and Belcheck at gun-point but also knew the man that fell to his death from the bridge!

And yet suddenly, she was acting like as if she knew nothing. Jack wasn't stupid, she had to be involved. So he tried a different approach. "Ok. If you're just a mechanic that was on the vessel when it was stolen, why did you hold me and my colleague at gun-point? We had only just entered the vessel, so we couldn't have been the people who took it..." he reasoned in a calm tone of voice, hoping to catch the woman out. When she didn't reply, he tried again. "Listen – the more you help me, the better things will be for you. The man that took this vessel, can you describe him?". At first, it looked like it was gonna work. Jack could see into the Ukranian's eyes and they looked conflicted, as if the woman was going to tell him what he wanted to know. But it was not to be. "I.. never saw. When saw goons, I hid. Only found courage, attack now" Krylenko insisted. Jack sighed, both in frustration and dismay. What would he have to do to get this woman to talk? He turned towards the bridge steps. "Anything, Belcheck?" he yelled.

"Negative. Between this thing shaking and the bulk-heads going out, I'd prefer not to rush" the Serb replied, just as he heard the sound of creaking metal. Suddenly, with another bang, the submarine shook and the vessel slid further downwards, sending Belcheck flying back into the wall with a loud clang. As the shaking stopped, Jack slowly got back to his feet and looked back up at the bridge. "You alright?" he called out. "Yeah.. nothing badly broken. I'm gonna keep looking but I suggest you start making your way up here. No telling how quickly the water level is gonna rise" the Serb reasoned as he slowly got back to his feet and prepared to lunge for the periscope in order to start his search again. This was not ideal but if he didn't act now, the chances of the majority of the bulk-heads giving out would increase significantly and they'd all be dead. At least doing this would give them a fighting chance of escaping back to the surface.

After several seconds making sure the bridge was stable, the Serb mobster leapt forward and grabbed onto the periscope, holding on for dear life. Slowly but surely, he began to move to the right of the periscope, up towards a control panel. As the sound of creaking metal made itself known once again, he hauled himself along the panel and scanned it for anything that could, as Jack said, help speed up the interrogation. And then he froze; he found something, a locket. He quickly picked it up and looked at it. On the front.. was a photo of Krylenko. Carefully opening it up, Belcheck discovered a black-and-white photo of an older man inside. Quite possibly her father and quite possibly the key to getting the woman to speak the truth before each and every one of the submarine bulk-heads gave out. Putting it around his neck, the mobster turned his head back towards the periscope. He wanted to have a further look but time was of the essence.

Just outside the bridge, Jack looked down at the rising water levels. The bulk-heads were giving way at an alarming rate and the level of water was increasing virtually every second. He looked back at the woman, who simply gave him a look of what he considered to be fake terror. "Let me show you something" he said and from out of nowhere, he grabbed onto Krylenko, hauling her onto her feet. Because of the angle that the submarine was now at, the length of the vessel leading up to the commander's quarters now served as a steep drop filled with water – and it was perfect for Jack to dangle Krylenko over, holding out to her by the neck. "I am becoming to lose patience with your lies – I don't want to kill you but considering the HELL I HAVE BEEN THROUGH TO FIND GENERAL BENEDIKTOV, I am THIS. CLOSE to letting go!" the former agent snarled. He genuinely was starting to lose his patience – he had gone to some incredible lengths in his attempt to locate and stop Benediktov and he sure as hell was not gonna let some woman try and play dumb with him. She knew where the Russian General was – but how he got the information really depended on whether he could get her to crack.

But much to his surprise, the woman didn't even flinch at being held above essentially what was instant death – instead, she simply looked at him and gave a pleading look that again suggested she didn't know what he was talking about. "JACK!" came a sudden yell, one filled with both shock and desperation. Jack looked up to see Belcheck in the doorway to the bridge. "Whoever you are, you don't have to do this! You clearly care for others, or else you wouldn't have this!" the mobster continued, revealing the locket. Jack looked up at it in surprise before turning back to Krylenko. With a sigh, he slammed her back into the wall. "Throw it to me" he ordered Belcheck, who aimed and threw. The locket landed directly in Jack's open hands. Noticing the photo of Krylenko on the front, he then opened it up. Within an instance, he very nearly dropped the locket. The photo of the older man.. it was the padre from the small Ukranian community he found shortly after he had been shot down whilst flying over the Ukraine.

And suddenly, the dots were connected. The padre had spoken of his daughter being on a tour of Europe and that he had thought she had taken the memory stick that Jack had found with her. And then it fully hit Jack – Krylenko WAS without a shadow of a doubt, in league with Benediktov! The recorded conversation on the memory stick that the General had had, that was with Krylenko. Jack almost shook his head at the believability of it all. He now had a means of getting through to the young woman. He turned his head back towards Krylenko and knelt down so that he could share eye contact. "You will tell me everything you know – now I know who you are" he said sternly but calmly as he revealed the open locket. Krylenko's eyes shot up in a mixture of both fear and shock. She didn't want to betray Benediktov even after everything, but now the man in front of her was starting to gain sense of everything.

–

06:07:23AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Above the ocean, meanwhile, the storm was still raging. The rain was coming down so hard that the visibility was practically next to nothing – not that that meant anything to the pilots of the Super Stallion as they were piloting the helicopter through the storm so fast that they were a touch worried they would end up flying the whole thing apart. But considering that they had a surprise passenger who made it clear he wouldn't tolerate being taken anywhere but DC, Nick and Danny weren't about to gamble with their lives twice. As the rain hammered down on the helicopter viewscreen, Nick took several quick glances at their passenger, who simply looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. "I think we'd all feel better if you didn't keep doing that, Nick – for his sake and for our sake!" Danny hissed quietly, without even moving his head to the side so that he was looking at his co-pilot.

Nick sighed, pissed off at Danny's comments. "Can you really blame me? He might have said he'll spare us but what makes you thinks he'll actually go through with it? Jesus, Danny, you're a bloody war veteran – you should know that of all people" he hissed back, trying not to raise his voice so that the mysterious Russian couldn't hear. Which proved to be a failure. "I said I may spare your lives if we get to DC in one piece because contrary to what you may think of me, I am a man of my word" General Benediktov replied suddenly. Nick froze and began to turn around to see the Russian, only to be met with his chest. The General was right there behind them. "Let me ask you something, Nick. Do you have a family?" he continued. Nick rose an eyebrow at the question. "I do. A Greek-Cyprian wife and three kids – two sons and a daughter" he said slowly, wondering where the Russian was going with this. "And you, Danny? Family?" Benediktov asked further. "Yeah – I have family. A toddler daughter currently with her grandparents, a wife in the Marines" Danny replied, his voice showing signs that he wasn't comfortable with the questions. "And from what Nick was saying, you are a war veteran? You've served in the forces" the Russian went on.

Danny gulped, trying to repress the memories. "Yeah – yeah, I was in the forces. The army. Middle East, Afghanistan. Some of the things I saw out there, I wouldn't wish on anyone" he said slowly and calmly, trying not to break into tears as his grip on the helicopter controls tightened and tightened. The seconds went by before Benediktov spoke once more. "You may be wondering what kind of person I am, someone who shows up in the middle of the ocean and demands to be taken solely to DC. You may be thinking that because of my accent, I'm someone who can't be trusted, someone out to destroy your country. Well, let me tell you both something.. I am not"

"I have family, just like you do. I have a daughter, just like you both have one" he continued, looking pointedly at Nick as he spoke. "I would go to hell and back to save her, I really would. And I feel for you, Daniel. What soldiers had to go through in the Middle East, no one should have to experience. But let me tell you – I've been through more wars than even you can imagine. I have seen things no-one should have to see, I have lost things some people will never understand. And from it all, I've seen the light. I've seen the light at the end of the tunnel. Which is why I'm here – I am not here to destroy your country, I'm here to save it. I'm here to save it from yourselves. There are far too many selfish people in life controlling the strings and manipulating all of you; I'm here to cut the strings and save you all" the General finished.

Throughout the Russian's monologue, Danny had not once looked away from the controls, instead opting to just flying the helicopter. But as soon as Benediktov had finished, he found himself looking up. The Russian looked into his eyes and he could see conflicting feelings – both sympathy and suspicion. He just didn't know whether or not to believe the General. His words, whilst thought-provoking, felt too good to be true. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was an ulterior motive. But he didn't know what.

–

 **Guardstrom HQ**

Back in the city, Evans paced up and down in Walkman's office frantically. He had found out some new information on the Russian submarine and was waiting to talk with Walkman – literally only minutes after arriving, he learnt from Mack that the Guardstrom President had had to slip out for a few minutes. He wished that Walkman would arrive back soon, the news he had was of a critical condition. He did stop pacing to take a look at a sleeping Heather and he almost felt sorry for her; she truly had no idea of her mother's underground activities and he knew it would kill her to know exactly what her mom was doing.

At that sudden moment, he saw the door opening from the corner of his eye and he turned his head just as Walkman came in. She gently pushed her hair back as if she was recomposing herself, before noticing her second-in-command. "Everything ok?" she asked, noting the expression on Evans' face. "Yes and no – there's been further developments" Evans replied, picking up several sheets of paper from Walkman's desk. Raising an eyebrow, Walkman walked over to where her second-in-command was. "Good developments or bad developments?" she asked, concerned. "A bit of both" came the reply as the Guardstrom president was handed a series of aerial photos. "What am I looking at?" she asked. "These were taken from where the Naval blockade was situated. The satellite we used had Infrared installed – take a look at this and now this.." Evans explained, showing Walkman one black-and-white photo that had a distinctive red pattern and then another black-and-white photo that had no red pattern at all. "Now before you ask, these haven't been tampered with – they're the genuine artefact. The red symbolizes non-American vessels. Look at the time-stamps" Walkman's second-in-command explained. Walkman checked over both photos before looking at the time-stamps. The first photo had a time of 05:45:00AM and the second had a time of 05:45:20AM. It took a moment for everything to click together, but then it dawned on Walkman. The red pattern was the satellite's interpretation of the Yuri Dolgorukiy and within those 20 seconds, something had happened to it.

"And I've got further evidence to boot – one of our men is stationed onboard the Olympia submarine and about 25 minutes, he essentially got confirmation given to him wrapped with a bow tie. We don't know what happened, but the Yuri Dolgorukiy has been immobilized" Evans continued as he handed a small folder to Walkman, who opened it up. It was the profile for the operative stationed onboard the Olympia, a Mr Gareth Peace. "I see.. well, I can tell these are all good developments so what's the bad?" Walkman asked, suddenly remembering that Evans had distinctively said there were both good and bad developments. "The bad... I'm afraid we are unable to confirm the whereabouts of Benediktov at this time. We don't know if he's still on the submarine or not" Evans said, shaking his head. Walkman could easily read the expression on his face – it was almost like he was pleading with her to consider evacuating. She looked back at her sleeping daughter and took a deep breath. "Keep trying whatever channels you can – get a definite location on Benediktov. Until then, I'm staying here" she decided.

Normally, Evans would have protested and made more of an effort to argue in favour of the Guardstrom President evacuating, but on this occasion, he sighed and gave a simple nod. There was honestly no point in arguing anymore. "Yes, Madame President" he replied. He quickly gathered together the sheets of paper and made his way towards the door. But as he closed the door, he laid eyes on Mack. The bespectacled young man looked like he was starting to drift off to sleep. And then an idea came into Evans' head. He promptly slammed the pile of paper onto the desk and with a jolt, Mack shot up onto his feet. "Sorry, Ma'am!" he said almost half-asleep before noticing who was in front of him. He quickly realized his mistake. "Sorry, sir" he said sheepishly. "Think nothing of it, Mack. But I have to ask, when was the last time you had a drink?" Evans asked. Mack rose an eyebrow. "I... I had a soda at midnight" he said. "Nothing since then?" the second-in-command retorted in surprise, before digging into his pocket and pulling out a $5 note. "Go get a hot drink. You're gonna need it" he said as he threw the dollar note in front of Mack.

"Sir?" Mack asked, incredulity in his voice. "Go on, just get a drink. I'll keep an eye on all this for you" Evans insisted. Whilst still looking a little uncertain, the bespectacled young man finally nodded and squeezed out from behind the desk, before heading down the hall. However, what he didn't know was that Evans was keeping an eye on him from just outside the office – and as soon as he was out of sight, the second-in-command reached for his phone and opened it up, dialling a number.

Several floors down below, meanwhile, Dr Hampson looked up at his creation. At long last, Project Connaughton was ready to be tested. Of course, Walkman had asked that testing not commence until she was out of the city and whilst the doctor had expressed some general surprise at the request, he saw no reason to argue with her. Looking away from the weapon, he then laid eyes on the controls – locked away in a briefcase. Until Walkman gave the word, all he and the other scientists who had worked on the weapon could sit and wait. And then out of the blue, his phone began to ring. Looking at the number, he rose an eyebrow but still opened up the phone. "Dr Hampson speaking" he said. " _Hey, Doc. Can we keep this between you and I?_ " Evans responded. "Erm.. of course, yes. _But what's so important that you're ringing me, sir? Of all people_ " the doctor responded. "I appreciate it's unorthodox, but I wouldn't be talking to you if I didn't think it was important" the second-in-command to Walkman replied. The seconds ticked by, before Hampson finally replied. "What do you need?" he asked. " _I need.._ I need you to get Project Connaughton ready for launch" Evans said. " _Wait.. what?! I thought President_ Walkman.. has she changed her mind?" Hampson spluttered. " _No, she hasn't changed her mind._ But she doesn't need to know. Put simply, there's a strong chance that we're gonna need the weapon sooner than she thinks!" Evans said, intentionally keeping some elements a secret.

When there was no reply, he sighed. " _I don't care what you do – even if it's just lowering the weapon into the launch chute._ We need to be prepared for what may happen!" he argued further. Hampson had had his spare hand up against his forehead as the full scale of what Evans was proposing became clear. Walkman had given him clear instructions to not launch the weapon until she gave the all-clear and now her second-in-command was in essence giving him the all-clear – and most likely without her say. He trusted Evans, but not to the point where he was willing to disobey a direct order. " _I want to help, sir.._ but I certainly don't want to go against President Walkman. Is there an immediate threat that requires the immediate launch of the weapon?" the doctor asked. Evans frowned. "No" he replied. " _Then I'm not going against Walkman's word. At least not now._ If something happens, if something escalates and the President is involved, then let me know. Until then, I can't help you" Hampson replied before hanging up. Evans sighed in frustration. He was seriously worried about the threat of Benediktov and where he was exactly. If he got his hands on Project Connaughton, there's no telling what he could do. It was almost like he was the only one trying to stop a serious situation getting worse.

–

 **Downtown DC**

"Come on, come on! What's the matter with you?" Cannavale muttered in frustration as he gently bashed his hand against the round tracker that Henderson had given him. After having been shot in the arm by Henderson, under the pretence that he needed "battle wounds" should he run into the Russian general, he had left the hideout and was making his way through the eye of the storm, back towards the city centre. He was now waiting for the tracker to start indicating when Benediktov would be overflying the city and in which direction he was meant to go to find him.

He still couldn't quite believe what Henderson was planning – trying to recruit a psychotic Russian general? Going up against what was essentially a homegrown army? Forget planned operations, they were suicide missions! But then there was the fact Henderson had had a sniper point a gun at his own daughter. Cannavale's relationship with Vicky was not exactly the best but he still loved her and he was of the mindset that if she was in danger, he would do anything to save her. But even this was just too far. At first, he thought Henderson's plans stood out as dangerous but with more benefits than downsides – but now he was starting to doubt that. The more he thought about it, Henderson just came across as a madman whose ultimate plans of using both Walkman and Benediktov to rip the country apart would just plunge the world into World War 3! And for what? So he could get revenge on Jack Bauer for killing his father and on the government for supposedly abandoning him?!

He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by a rapid beeping. He checked the tracker and rose an eyebrow when a red spot appeared on the screen that slowly moved downwards – almost like he was overflying the Delaware area. It had to be Benediktov, it just had to be! He immediately moved for the keys to the taxi which were already in the engine – but as he turned it, nothing happened. He tried again and the engine made a series of stop-start splutters before cutting off completely. "Gods sake.." he muttered as he looked back at the tracker. He would have to move on foot as he sure as heck was not going to find another car, certainly not in this weather. He opened the car door and as soon as he had grabbed the tracker, he made a run for it. He just hoped he would be able to find the bastard.

06:12:35AM

–

06:16:27AM

 **White House**

" _And no-one has seen Jack since then?_ " Gerrard asked, his stony expression hiding the concern in his eyes as he spoke through the video connection. "No.. we've got divers looking over the wreckage from the downed helicopter but it's been hard to get a proper look" Novick replied, as he sat cross-legged and cross-armed in the conference room. He shared a glance with Agent Yanes.

" _I see – ok_ , so what exactly happened to the submarine to leave it like it is right now?" the Secretary of State continued. He couldn't quite believe Novick when the Acting President informed him that the Yuri Dolgorukiy had been immobilized and it had found it even more crazy that it was half-resting on the ocean bed with only the bulk-heads preventing it from falling completely onto the ocean floor. " _We're not quite sure if we're honest_ – the divers onboard the Olympia seem to think it could have been some kind of explosive device" Novick explained. "But one that had been positioned carefully within the vessel. I'm not gonna lie, Mr Secretary, but I can't help but shake the feeling that if Benediktov had wanted to stop us getting our hands on the submarine, he would have done so" Yanes suddenly interrupted. Both Novick and Gerrard looked at him with inquisitive faces. " _What do you mean, Yanes?_ " Gerrard asked.

"Well, the explosions took place at the back of the submarine. Almost as if Benediktov wanted it immobilized. _Had the explosions taken place anywhere else, it would have sunken straight to the bottom of the ocean._ Something doesn't bode right, like.." the Secret Service agent explained. ".. _like as though someone_ wants us to investigate? Well I'm not gonna lie, Agent. I think you may be onto something. I've been in enough government situations to know that things are not always as simple as they seem – but at the minute, _we can't even prove anything. Mike, what's happening with the salvage operation?_ " Gerrard explained and then asked. "Well, we've got divers doing continued sweeps of the vessel – however, the commander on the Olympia is of the belief that the bulk-heads are giving out one by one and it's only a matter of time before it plummets onto the ocean bed" Novick explained. Gerrard nodded. " _Alright – you've already said you plan to oversee the salvage operation so I'll let you get on with that._ The moment you get something, let me know" he said, before the feed cut out in a way that indicated he had disconnected the feed.

As he got up, Novick looked back at Yanes. "Tell the divers to step up their sweeps of the vessel. And to look out for Jack as well" he told the Agent, who nodded silently before leaving. As the door closed, the Acting President turned away so that his back was now on the door. "Where are you, Jack?" he muttered desperately.

In another part of the bunker, Chloe was rapidly typing away on a laptop whilst talking into a phone. "Then try increasing the power relays until you get a good enough signal – for god's sake, it's not rocket science!" she snapped, clearly agitated and as if she had been working hard for quite a few minutes. After the issues that the White House had had in trying to re-establish contact in the midst of the thunderstorm, she had been working to try and increase the radio signal outputs so that it hopefully didn't happen again. But in her mind, the operatives she had been assigned were either clueless or just trying to piss her off intentionally. From the corner of her eye, she could see the door opening and then Kim coming in, with a female Secret Service agent then closing the door after her. "Look, just do what I say and ring me back in two minutes!" the former analyst snapped crossly before slamming the phone shut. "Clearly some things never change, do they?" Kim teased slightly, only to be met with what looked like a death glare from Chloe.

"These people call themselves the best of the best – I'd have better help from a group of chimps! And you're not helping!" she snapped back, reserving the last bit of anger for Kim who almost recoiled in shock. As the seconds ticked by, Chloe started to show signs of guilt for snapping at the daughter of her only friend. "Sorry – the last few days have just proven to be really tough and having not slept for 48 hours hasn't helped" she apologized, though the slight smile from Kim indicated it was ok. "How about I help? Make things go quicker" she offered. "Please! I'd rather you than the people they have here" Chloe responded, almost practically giving up her seat. Whilst Chloe and Kim had had their obvious issues from working together at CTU, their more recent encounters together had seen them get along much better to the point where they could have been considered friends – and as Chloe had suggested, things would work better with what she was trying to do if it was Kim instead of the White House team assigned to her.

"So what is it you're trying to do again?" Kim asked as she grabbed a nearby chair and pulled it over to where Chloe was. "I'm trying to make it so that we don't always lose contact with the Naval blockade out in the North Atlantic; this storm's really playing havoc with our communication systems" the former analyst explained as simply as she could. Kim nodded. "Alright – what have you tried exactly?" she asked. "Pretty much everything. Increase the power relays, boost the signal, it's just the band of muppets I've got are trying all their best to suggest things that won't even work" Chloe replied. "Well I doubt it's to solely annoy you – after all, the White House picked these people for a reason. Maybe they're trying to cover all possible solutions" Kim pointed out. Chloe inwardly sighed and put the palm of her hand against her forehead. "You're right.." she admitted, realizing her tiredness was fully getting the better of her state of mind. Kim picked up on this too. "Chloe.. you can go rest for an hour or so if you want. I'm willing to cover for you" she offered, but the former analyst interjected. "No! No.. no, I can't do that. I'm not gonna stop working until we restore communication and until I know your dad's alri..." she replied almost instantly and bluntly – but then she stopped. She realized she had mentioned something she should not have done.

Kim looked up, eyebrow risen and a suspicious look in her eye. "You were gonna say until my dad's alright" she said calmly. Chloe looked at her and then looked down, trying her best to avoid going red. "Chloe.. what's going on? What's happened to my dad?" Kim asked, this time her voice being a lot more sterner. The former analyst inwardly fought with herself as she debated whether or not Kim had a right to know about what was going on in the North Atlantic – and in the end, her conscious won out. "When your dad... arrived at the Blockade with Belcheck, it was almost instantly shot down. By the Russian submarine, not by any of us by the way" she explained, stopping when she saw Kim's expression turn to one of horror. "Basically, since the wreckage hit the ocean, we've not been able to find any trace of possible survivors" she added, being fully honest as she knew Kim did not appreciate anyone lying to her for any possible reason – she had seen Jack learn that the hard way during the events of the Sentox conspiracy.

Upon hearing this, Kim nearly fell out of her seat. She had seen her father for the first time for 4 years only two hours ago – he couldn't be dead. No, no, he couldn't be! He had survived a nuclear explosion by the skin of his teeth, he'd survived what he had called the "prion variant" that he had been exposed to whilst taking down Starkwood and he'd made it out of the Ukraine alive just a few hours ago! She simply wouldn't believe he was dead.

"Kim?"

Kim could hear Chloe trying to talk to her and all she wanted to do was block out the sound of her voice – but then another thought sprang to mind. If she could help Chloe out, they could re-establish contact with the blockade and she could find out for her. She got up from her seat. "Those people the White House assigned you to – what room are they?" she asked. "Er.. they're on the hallway on the left, Room 62" the former analyst replied, unsure as to why Kim was asking. "Well, let's just say.. if they're planning hard ball and being tricky to work with, I'm gonna put a stop to that" she replied, a dark and sneaky glint in her eyes as she left. Chloe was almost bemused by what was going on – but then she remembered. A child's love for their parent. Kim loved her father, even after everything and if there was a chance, even if it was a small chance that Jack was alive, then she would do whatever she could to make sure he was ok.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Inside the Yuri Dolgorukiy, the water level had increased significantly. The majority of the bulk-heads were still standing but at the same time, a lot more had given way within the previous 15 minutes – so much so that on the outside, the vessel was falling closer and closer to the sea-bed. To Belcheck, there was still no real time-scale on when enough bulk-heads would give way but it surely wouldn't be long. The good news at least was that because of the front of the vessel falling closer to the ocean floor, the bridge was no longer at such an awkward angle. On the bridge, the Serb mobster was looking over each of the control panels – in an attempt to find a way of communicating with the blockade on the surface. If they knew what was going on, they would at least attempt to form some kind of rescue.

Near the steps, meanwhile, Jack was once again attempting to get Krylenko to crack. So far, things were not going well – but at least on this occasion, he had a back-up plan. He hadn't mentioned Krylenko's father, the padre within the tiny community he had met nearly 18 hours ago yet. He had let her believe that he had not in any way met her family. "Alright.. let's try something else" he said suddenly before looking to the side and looking at the rising water level. He didn't have much time. He looked back towards the Ukrainian and took a deep breath. He held up the locket in one of his hands once more. "Bipa. That name ring a bell? I'm of the knowledge she died on September 11th 2001 – as someone who lost his wife many years ago, I know the pain of loosing someone close to you" he stated. Throughout, he could see the alarm bells within Krylenko triggering – how could he possibly know that information? "I also know who your father is – on the basis that I saved his life and he helped save mine. I believe he's the padre for a small community, about three or so hours from Kiev? I recall him saying he had a daughter who was on a tour of Europe – and correct me if I'm wrong, but I wouldn't call this the European continent.." Jack continued, praying that this would be enough to convince the woman in front of him to crack. It worked.

"ALRIGHT! Alright.. I'll tell you what you want.." Krylenko relented, wanting for Jack to start asking the questions. "Who was onboard this vessel before you met the blockade? I find it hard to believe that a submarine like this would have a skeleton crew" the former agent started. "There were about 10 of us – but about 4 hours ago, the General got rid of all of them except me and my colleague, the one you met briefly" the Ukrainian replied, referring to Dragusha. Jack nodded. "Carry on. What was the plan as soon as you got rid of these people?" he asked. "We.. we were going to launch one of the missiles at DC as soon as we were in range – in fact, we are currently in range but then we ran into the blockade on the surface.." Krylenko replied before being interrupted by the sound of creaking metal. Within seconds, another bulk-head gave out and the submarine fell down abruptly. Jack took a look at the rising water level and grimaced. If the bulk-heads held out for another 10 minutes, then they would have time to possibly move to the bridge – but that scenario wasn't likely, considering the rate that the bulk-heads were giving way.

"Right... what about Benediktov? Where was he when the explosions happened?" the former agent asked. He was slightly hopeful that the Russian may still be onboard, possibly in a part of the submarine where he wasn't affected by the water. "I... I don't know. But here's the thing – the General was.. last few hours, he's been acting really strangely" Krylenko admitted. Jack rose his eyebrow, intrigued by this admission. "Strangely. How so?" he pushed. "Well.. for starters, it just felt like he was contradicting himself in front of us on several occasions. And throughout the last few hours before now, he kept disappearing on us – even when we were fighting the blockade, he left us to it. No reason as to why he had gone off.. but then I heard your friend say that the escape pod had long been deployed" the Ukrainian confessed, swiftly crushing Jack's hopes that Benediktov was on the submarine. If there had been only three people onboard an hour ago, alongside Dragusha falling to his death and no chance of Krylenko making it to the escape pod, then chances were that the Russian General was in-fact in the escape pod. And chances were he could already be on the surface by now.

Suddenly, the submarine shook as another bulk-head gave way. From the outside and through the periscope on the Olympia, the Yuri Dolgorukiy was edging closer and closer to the ocean floor. And Commander Gibson knew it. "Tell the vessels on the surface to hurry up! If we're not quick, the submarine will fall and we won't be able to get to it!" he yelled desperately.

Back on the Russian vessel, Belcheck appeared on the top of the steps. "Jack!" he yelled and both Jack and Krylenko looked up at the bridge. "You need to get up here, now. No telling how quickly the bulk-heads are gonna give!" the Serb mobster insisted, reasoning that the bridge would at least offer more protection. "Right.." Jack agreed and immediately held out a hand to Krylenko so that he could pull her up. Whilst a little suspicious, the Ukrainian took up the offer.

–

06:24:18AM

 **Washington DC**

"We've made it" Danny said quietly.

Even through all the rain hammering down on the helicopter windscreen, Nick and Danny could easily make out the outline of the residential areas of DC below them. From having flown over the DC area by helicopter so many times, they could even tell which residential area was which. But perhaps most concerningly, they were starting to wonder where the Russian General would want them to land. Would it be somewhere in the city's outskirts or somewhere within the city centre?

"Land here" Benediktov said suddenly and Danny looked up to see the Russian in-between him and Nick, looking down on the city through the windscreen. "Anywhere in particular?" Nick asked, considering Benediktov's request to be somewhat obscure. "Just.. here" the Russian insisted. Danny looked down and noticed that they were overflying the Brightwood residential area. A good 30 minutes from the city centre in this weather. Didn't really make sense in the grand scheme of things – why not somewhat closer to or even in the city centre? "Alright – Brightwood it is" he agreed as he began to take the helicopter down towards the ground. This was somewhat easier said than done owing to not just the rain but also the wind which threatened to send the Super Stallion onto it's side in the midst of trying to land. But finally, the wheels touched the ground with a clatter and a thump.

Danny looked towards Nick, who was in the middle of beginning to shut down the rotors. His expression turned to one of confusion topped with anger. "What are you doing?! We need to get airborne as soon as he's clear!" he hissed, immediately grabbing a hold of his co-pilot's arm. "I don't think that's gonna happen, Dan – why have us land on the outskirts of the city when he could have had us fly towards the center?" Nick reasoned. He was starting to have his suspicions as to why the Russian had had them land here. "I would listen to your colleague, Daniel" Benediktov said suddenly from near the back of the helicopter – before emerging from the shadows, clutching what appeared to be plastic explosive. "If I were the two of you, I would start running as fast as you can – I wouldn't want you both to be caught up in what follows" he continued, eyeing them both. Nick quickly clocked the plastic explosive. "Holy.. alright! We're going!" he spluttered, throwing his headphones off and jumping to his feet – making sure to grab Danny's arm as he did.

Danny, who now realized what the Russian was holding, practically forced the helicopter door open. "Oh and gentlemen?" Benediktov said, Nick and Danny stopping to see what the General wanted now. "Thank you ever so much for flying me out here – I'll remember you both fondly when the job is done" he remarked, giving a sincere smile. Danny looked at him nervously before finally turning back around and running into the rain, Nick following closer. Benediktov secured the piece of plastic explosive he held in his hand firmly onto the helicopter interior – he looked all throughout the different areas of the helicopter that he had secured plastic explosive to, before making sure he still had the briefcase of remote detonators for the missiles still handcuffed to his wrist and then finally making his way into the rain.

He walked a short distance away from the helicopter before taking the detonator for the plastic explosive and pressing down on the button – within seconds, the helicopter exploded in a huge fireball. Benediktov could feel the shockwaves from the explosion hitting his back, but he merely looked over his shoulder before walking down the road. He didn't want to destroy the helicopter as it could have provided further transport, but at the same time, he needed to cover his tracks and keep the US government and the US authorities out of the loop. As he felt another wave of heat hit his back, he managed a smile.

Russian General Andre Benediktov had managed to avoid detection against the odds and he was now on American soil.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

On the ocean surface, the explosions that had hit several of the ships during the battle with the Yuri Dolgorukiy including the Oslo, had finally died down – the remaining vessels were leaving them to sink below the surface.

Onboard the cruiser Albany, the commander was talking over the radio with Commander Gibson on the Olympia. "Well, we've picked up another ten survivors, brings it to 72 overall – but we've lost about 250 people so far, most likely more to come. What's the Russian submarine look like?" he said. " _It's hard to say –_ the rate that the bulk-heads keep collapsing, it's hard to really give an estimate on when it'll collapse onto the ocean-bed fully" Gibson replied as the radio operator held the radio close to his mouth, the commander looking through the periscope. Suddenly, at that moment, the front of the submarine fell slightly closer to the ocean bed. Another bulk-head had gone. "Actually, scratch that. I doubt the vessel's gonna hold beyond 25 minutes. I'm gonna have the divers do another sweep and then get to the surface" he added in quickly. " _Roger that – we're just waiting on a few more things but we should be able to start the salvage operation soon_ " the commander on the Albany replied.

Gibson turned to a nearby petty officer. "Get the third group of divers ready. One last sweep" he ordered. "Sir" the petty officer saluted before walking off the bridge.

Onboard the Yuri Dolgorukiy, meanwhile, the bridge steps were now at a better angle that both Jack and Krylenko could make it onto the bridge without too much fuss. Even then, as the Ukrainian was pushed onto the bridge, Belcheck was there to grab her to make sure she didn't end up falling over. "This should at least give us better protection" Jack remarked as he hauled himself onto the bridge. "Yes – but what good will it be when the vessel collapses? Surely you remember the Kursk, Bauer" Krylenko remarked pointedly. Jack did remember the Kursk – when in the midst of a Russian naval exercise in August 2000, the highly-regarded Kursk submarine suffered a massive explosion in its torpedo bay, ripping the whole vessel open and sending it to the sea bed. Russia had been reluctant to accept foreign aid and by the time they did, every single officer on the Kursk was dead. Some had survived the initial explosion but were all dead within the next few days. And the same was likely going to happen to them if they didn't find a way out of the vessel quickly.

"We need to get a message to the surface" the former agent said quietly. But loudly enough for Belcheck to hear, as he walked towards the main control panel. The Serb mobster scanned the panel, hoping to find something that would help. And he stopped. His eyes widened. "Jack" he said. Jack looked up. "How good is your translating from Russian?" Belcheck continued. As Jack got to his feet, he wanted for the Serb to expand on what he had found. "I think we have a way of contacting the vessels on the surface. Morse code". Jack took in what he had been – and smiled. "Who needs me, when we have someone who knows the language?" he pointed out, turning his head to face Krylenko who immediately realized what was going on. She was gonna act as their translator.

–

 **Washington DC**

The quickest route from Bethesda towards the DC city centre was through the Brightwood residential area, which was the route that an NCIS Medical Examiner van was taking en-route to the Navy Yard.

At the wheel was a young woman, with a middle-aged doctor in the passenger seat. The woman was not happy. "Whose-ever bright idea it was to have us meet at Bethesda, at 4am, IN THE POURING RAIN to top it all, they're gonna wish they'd never met me!" she snapped. "Calm down, Debbie. I'm sure that the people behind this had good intentions" the doctor replied, before noticing something out of the ordinary through the windscreen. Not that the driver, Debbie, noticed. "Good intentions, yeah right! Honestly, why does the Director have the asshole he does for a communications officer? You'd think that he would go with someone a bit more reliable.. Doc, are you even listening?" she carried on with her rant, before noticing that the doctor wasn't listening. "Stop the car, Debbie" the doctor replied. Debbie was about to ask what was going on before she looked through the windscreen. And saw the smoke. "What the..?" she whispered as they stopped near the downed helicopter.

The doctor got out to investigate, whilst Debbie opened the driver side door in the event that the doctor had to yell out to her. As he investigated, the elderly doctor noticed what looked like an inscription on the side of the helicopter. "CH-53E, Super Stallion, HF471. Property of the United States Military, Naval Criminal Invest..." he started before stopping. He looked over the inscription again and his eyes widened. "It can't be... that's... this is Nick and Danny's helicopter!" he almost yelled as everything started to dawn on him. He turned back to the van. "Debbie! Contact the Navy Yard, check if any of their helicopters are missing!" he shouted over the sound of the pouring rain and thunder. Not wanting to be told twice, Debbie immediately grabbed her radio and looked out of the windscreen at the doctor who looked within the burnt-out interior of the Super Stallion.

"NICK! DANNY! TALK TO ME!" he shouted desperately.

06:30:25AM

–

06:34:37AM

 **Washington DC**

About 10 minutes away down the road, a blacked-out van made its way down 13th Street Northwest. " _Roger that, Unit 32A. We'll see you soon, over_ " a voice from the van radio said before cutting off. The driver handed the radio back towards the passenger who placed it back where it needed to be. "Another 10 minutes and we can get out of this weather, thank the heavens" the driver remarked sarcastically. "Yeah, you're telling me – they say this weather's more suited to ducks but I think even the ducks would run for cover in this!" the passenger, a woman in her late 30s, said, bored out of her mind. "Why on earth has President Walkman made us do patrols at stupid o'clock on the morning?! Doesn't make sense!" she added. "I don't mind doing the patrols as such, I understand why the President wants them done; what I object to is doing them in this weather." the driver replied, before opening a slot on a wall between the driver and passenger seats. "Anything abnormal to report?" he called.

"Negative, sir. Things are quiet in this area – though if you want to count the weather into the variables, can we put that down as abnormal?" a young operative replied as he monitored readings on a laptop, whilst another operative held up a scanning device close to the roof. "As much as that is accurate, I don't think Evans would allow it – he's as pushy a professional as you can get and I think that would send him into overdrive" the driver stated. He had known Evans for a long time and even the slightest bit of unneeded joking around on a report would send him over the top. The passenger was about to make a snide remark about Guardstrom's second-in-command when she saw a strange figure through the windscreen. "LOOK OUT!" she screamed and the driver looked up just in time, just as the van barely missed the figure. Slamming on the brakes, he finally came to a stop – though with the van now facing the other direction. "God's sake.. I'll be right back!" he said as he got out the van and ran towards the figure, which was now slumped on the ground.

"Damn.." the driver muttered and he got on his knees, checking for a pulse. There was one. "Hello? Hello, can you hear me?" he said desperately. He opened the figure's mouth to check for breathing, before grabbing his radio. "Edmondson, call for an ambulance. The guy looks alright but it doesn't hurt to be saf..." he said before being suddenly interrupted. Unbeknown to the driver, the figure was perfectly fine for whilst he was talking, his eyes shot open. Also unbeknown to him, the figure was General Benediktov – and before the driver could finish talking, the Russian had grabbed him with both hands by the neck. With a deadly grin on his face, he started to choke the life out of the driver. Slowly but surely, he got to his feet with his hands still around the driver – just as a gunshot rang out, a bullet flying past the driver. Benediktov turned his head to see the female operative glaring and holding a gun at him. "Let him go, NOW!" she snarled. Benediktov simply turned his head and released the driver from his grip. "On your feet, you're coming with us!" she continued, clocking the gun as she spoke.

Calmly raising his hands above his head, he began to move towards the woman. But as soon as he was close enough to her, he lunged at her, catching her off-guard completely and sending both flying onto the ground – in the process, she dropped her gun. The driver immediately rushed towards them and grabbed Benediktov's shoulder, intending to pull him up and around to punch him in the face. But as he did so, he realized too late that the Russian was holding a knife – and as he was turned around, Benediktov slammed the knife into his gut and forced himself backwards. But as he was doing this, the female operative had grabbed her radio. "Clough, Stevens, get out here! We're under fire!" she shouted. As Benediktov realized what was happening, he grabbed the operative and forced her to her feet. At the back of the van, the two other operatives raced out to assist. One of them immediately slammed his back up against the van and he began creeping slightly forward very slowly, not wanting to trip up whoever it was that the female operative had alerted them about.

As he moved forward, however, he immediately saw what was taking place. He pressed himself back up against the van. "Let her go!" he shouted towards the mysterious figure holding the female operative hostage. "Drop your weapons first!" the figure shouted back. "I said let her go! You're outnumbered" the operative replied over the sound of the pouring rain, determined to not let whoever this person was get the better of him. Benediktov, however, was trying to work out a plan. This woman he was holding essentially as a hostage, he needed to use her as a human shield of sorts. "Alright.. I'm coming towards your side of the van. But I strongly advise you lower your weapon" he shouted as he started to push the female operative towards the left-hand side of the van. As the two came into view, the operative lowered his gun. "Here, you can have her!" Benediktov shouted as he shoved the operative so far that she collided with her colleague – and in the process, the Russian threw himself onto the ground and picked up the gun, before aiming and firing underneath the van. The second male operative cried out in pain as the bullet left his body. "Clough!" the female operative cried out, whilst the first male operative immediately tried to locate and shoot Benediktov.

But within all the confusion, the Russian had again gotten to his feet and made it successfully to the other side of the blacked-out van, out of instant view. Checking the gun for bullets, he found that it had just four left. If he was gonna get rid of these last three operatives quickly, four bullets would not be enough. But then he noticed the fuel tank on the underside. Testing an idea out, he shot at it. And again. And the tank was pierced. Smiling, he fired one last time before rolling on his side so that he wasn't directly facing the van. He felt the explosion hit his back and then the heat. Waiting a few more seconds until the explosions died down, he finally turned his heat. The van was practically unrecognisable. Benediktov slowly got to his feet and began to look for signs of any one of the operatives surviving. The driver with the knife in his gut, he had died pretty much instantly. The female operative and the male operative that he hadn't shot in the leg, they'd been blown back by the explosion – neither of them had a pulse. And the operative he did shoot in the leg, he was directly behind the van when it exploded. He looked dead, he couldn't have survived at that angle. The Russian General was about to turn away when he noticed something on the operative's clothes. A logo. A logo that looked familiar.

And it hit him. He had seen that logo about an hour ago before he abandoned the Yuri Dolgorukiy. That same logo.. was the logo for Guardstrom. He had just attacked and killed a Guardstrom unit. If he could just find another unit belonging to Guardstrom, then he could attack them as well AND take their van. And then he'd have a clear path to their HQ and to Walkman. Vengeance was both in sight and in reach. But first he needed to get under shelter and to wait. Wait for another unit to appear.

–

 **White House**

Chloe and Kim practically burst into the main conference room within the bunker, Chloe carrying her laptop as she almost fell to the floor. "Mr President!" Kim practically shouted, getting Novick's attention. "We've done it – we've got a secure connection to the blockade vessels!" Chloe continued. Not needing to be told twice, the Acting President got up and walked over. "Are we currently patched through?" he asked. "Yes, sir. Just need your word and we're a-go" Kim confirmed. Nodding, Novick turned to the people also within the conference room. "Take a 5 minute break – we'll carry on as soon as I'm done" he ordered. The small group individually nodded and started to move out of the room.

"Set everything up, we don't have much time" the Acting President ordered Chloe, who immediately moved into action and set up the connection fully. It took a few seconds but at last, it was sorted. "You're on, sir. Go ahead" she said.

"This is Acting President Novick, good morning to everyone in the North Atlantic. I appreciate things may not be good where you are, _but considering the circumstances of the last few hours,_ _I need you all on top form_ " he stated as his voice was heard on all the surviving blockade vessels including on the bridge of the Albany and on the Olympia. " _We've done well to stop the Yuri Dolgorukiy in its tracks so far but it can still carry a potent threat. What you all need to do is prepare to salvage the vessel – we've been given permission from the Russian government to do so and should we require extra help, several Russian naval vessels are on-hand to lend a hand. But until then, you need to do what you can with the submarine before the bulk-heads give out or else you'll have to wait for the heavy-duty equipment_ "

"As well as this, I need you to keep a close eye out for anyone on the submarine who may have survived. Any survivors could well be the key to stopping everything that has taken place over the last 20 hours" he continued, looking at Kim and Chloe as he spoke. "And one last thing – keep radio contact to the minimum. If something happens or comes up, inform the White House if you think it's serious enough for me to know. And good luck" he finished before signalling to Chloe to cut the feed. And as if on cue, Yanes burst in. "Mr President! We may have an issue.." he said, his phone held firmly in his hand. Novick rose an eyebrow. "Go on?" he replied.

"This is gonna sound strange, but I just got off the phone with the Director of NCIS at the Navy Yard. One of their helicopters was found burnt out about 20 minutes north of us in the Brightwood residential area, about 10 minutes ago" the agent explained. Novick's eyebrow remained raised. "That's it? The Director of NCIS found it necessary to tell you that?" he asked, baffled at why the White House was being informed of something that just didn't seem that important. "Well I was going to ask the same question – but it transpires that the helicopter's last reported location before it was found 10 minutes ago was where the blockade currently is!" Yanes insisted. This time, Novick's attention was caught. "You're sure about that?" he replied. "Yes, sir. They're trying to locate the pilots as it is, but there's more; the NCIS agents who found the helicopter, they don't think it crash-landed. It looked like someone had planted explosives onboard, like they're.." the agent explained before being interrupted. "..like they're trying to get rid of something or cover their tracks!" Kim finished. All Yanes could do was nod.

Novick put his hand to his chin, deep in thought. "Chloe, if you're not doing anything, contact the Director and look into this. Something's linking this to everything that's happened, but I don't know what" he ordered. Chloe quickly nodded and picked up her laptop. "I'll send someone for Kim if I need help" she said before leaving, escorted by Yanes. Kim could only look at Novick, who remained deep in thought. Something was connecting everything together and he just didn't know what.

–

 **Downtown DC**

As the rain continued to hammer down on the windows within Henderson's hideout, the man himself was stretched out on the sofa, resting. Literally not much had happened since Cannavale had left about 50 minutes previously – he had been tracking the mercenary as he said, but not much had happened. Granted, he knew that Cannavale and Benediktov were not going to meet up almost immediately and that it would take time, but it still felt like he could be doing something.

Sighing, he pulled himself up so that he was sitting up-right and looked at the open laptop in front of the table. He looked at the video footage that showed Cannavale's daughter being under watch by one of his snipers. After many seconds of indecision and debate, he looked like he was going to make the necessary call and pull the sniper off of Vicky. But in the end, he held out. "Sorry, young lady. But I'm gonna need your dad for a bit longer" he said, closing the laptop.

And at that moment, there was a dull rumbling sound. Confused, Henderson listened out. At first, there was nothing but just as he was getting ready to stand up, there was a second dull rumbling sound. This time, Henderson frowned and made sure to listen for longer. The seconds went by. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock – until finally, a third dull rumbling. And it sounded like it was coming from underneath the hideout. Henderson made his way out into the hallway and listened out for where the rumbling could be at it's loudest. This time, the rumbling came from the cupboard on the right-hand side of the hallway. Opening the door, he was taken aback to see another door – and then another dull rumble, only much louder and as if it was coming from the other side of the second door. Walking into the cupboard, he opened the door – and was shocked by what he saw.

For in the basement of the hideout was a tunnel. A long tunnel that looked like it stretched for miles. Suddenly, there was another rumbling sound which got louder and louder – and within seconds, a blacked-out van rushed through. Henderson rose an eyebrow. "Tunnels?" he said to himself, wondering what he was looking at. Then from out of nowhere, there was another rumbling – and Henderson looked to his left to see another van racing through the tunnel. But this time, he caught something on one of the back doors of the van. A logo. The Guardstrom insignia. Everything started to click into place for Henderson. "I knew there were tunnels under DC.." he said to himself as he made his way down the steps. And it hit him – if there were Guardstrom vehicles going through underground tunnels, they were most likely heading back to their headquarters. And where the headquarters were, so must be the super-weapon! The fabled "Project Connaughton", that he thought he would be getting his hands on only a few hours ago only for him to be double-crossed at the last second.

Looking back at the open door, he shrugged and started to make his way through the tunnels.

–

06:42:01AM

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

From the upper deck of the Albany a group of divers were preparing to jump into the rough waters of the ocean, in order to prepare for the salvage operation of the Yuri Dolgorukiy. Jumping straight into the water from the vessels on the surface was not ideal but as Commander Gibson had pointed out in discussion with Novick, having the Olympia surface to pick up the divers would eat up valuable time and considering how quickly the bulk-heads were giving out, they could ill-afford to waste any.

A petty officer gave the signal and approximately five divers jumped into the water. They were doing it five at a time as each group of five had their own jobs concerning getting the submarine ready for salvage and if they wasted time, the submarine could fully sink to the ocean floor and salvaging it would be a lot harder. On the bridge for the vessel, a petty officer looked out at the action on the deck. "They're heading in, sir – all divers will be under water within the next 2 minutes!" he called out to the commander. "Right – I've just spoken with Commander Gibson. We've got literally no time to waste; the bulk-heads are near total collapse and the heavy duty equipment won't be here until the storm's over" the commander replied, walking past the radio operator as he spoke. But as he finished, the operator's expression changed. He could have sworn he'd heard a rapid beeping over his headphones. "Everyone, shut up for a minute!" he burst out and as the activity on the bridge came to a halt, he listened again. There was a rapid beeping.

"Commander, I'm getting this strange beeping over the radio!" he added, pulling off the headphones and stretching his hand out. The commander, intrigued, put the headphones on and listened to the rapid beeping. "This sounds familiar.. S... O... S..." he remarked before it hit him. Someone was sending out an SOS! "It's Morse Code, Higley! That beeping is Morse Code, someone's sending out a mayday! Reply back, see who it is!" he ordered. Not needing to be told twice, Higley immediately began responding in Morse Code. As the seconds went by, finally a response came. "Please... help... This is... Bauer.. trapped.. onboard.. Russian submarine... bulk-heads giving way.." he read it out and it hit not just him but also the commander. "That's where Bauer is! He's trapped on the submarine! Stop the divers, they need to get him out before the bulk-heads go!" he yelled out to anyone in ear-shot. Quickly responding to the message, Higley sent out a reply.

And that reply was received on the bridge of the Yuri Dolgorukiy. "Roger.. Bauer. Help on way, sit tight" Krylenko read out. Jack breathed a sigh of relief.. but the relief didn't last for long as the submarine shook once more before collapsing further down. The bulk-heads were giving out much quicker. "Come on, we need to get to the hatch!" he yelled out. As he ran to the top of the steps, he could see that the water was at a much higher level – in either minutes or seconds, the bridge would start to flood. Belcheck and Krylenko appeared behind him and he looked at them grimly. "Hold your breath!" he ordered sternly before looking back at the water and jumping into it. The vessel shook once more as the sound of creaking metal became known, only it was a lot louder – the bulk-heads were under serious strain. Wasting no time, Belcheck jumped into the water and Krylenko, albeit with signs of worry and nervousness, followed suite just as another bulk-head collapsed and the submarine sank further toward the ocean bed.

On the surface, the petty officer gave the signal and the last group of divers jumped from the deck of the vessel into the rough waters. As they began their journey down towards near the bottom, Commander Gibson looked out at them through the periscope. "Yes, sir – yes, I can see them moving down to near the sea bed now. But it looks like the submarine won't hold out for much longer – they'll have to move quickly" he explained over the radio. On the other end, he could hear a sigh through what sounded like clenched teeth. " _At this rate, we'll have to wait out here for the heavy duty equipment. The divers won't be able to do much at that depth!_ " the commander on the Albany responded. "I appreciate that, sir, but we can't just leave one of our own men to die.." Gibson pointed out, only to be interrupted. "SIR! The submarine.. it's giving way!" a petty officer who had taken over looking through the periscope almost shouted. Dropping the radio, Gibson pushed the petty officer out of the way and looked through the periscope. His blood ran cold as he could see the front of the Yuri Dolgorukiy falling closer and closer to the ocean bed. The submarine's resilience was finally giving out underneath the enormous strain. The commander found his breath accelerating and his hands holding onto the periscope for dear life. "Come on, Jack" he whispered.

Inside the submarine, the water level had rapidly increased to the point where the space underneath the hatch into the vessel was the only area without any water – Jack's head emerged from the water and he breathed in deeply, as he grabbed onto the ladder leading to the hatch for dear life. Belcheck was next to emerge, also grabbing onto the ladder, whilst Krylenko finally appeared though opting to instead hover next to the two men. Jack desperately looked up at the locked hatch – at this depth, it would be impossible to open. The divers would have to try and force it open from the outside. On the outside of the vessel, meanwhile, the divers were congregated around the hatch and trying to figure out how best to open it. Another diver appeared with a crowbar and tried to force it into the gap between the hatch and the submarine – suddenly, the vessel collapsed further forward toward the ocean-bed, which sent the crowbar flying out of the diver's hands and towards the ocean-bed. Another diver shook his head in frustration and signalled to another diver to go retrieve something. This clearly didn't go down well with the rest of the divers as their eyes all went wide and some even signalled to show their protest – but the lead diver simply signalled back to say they didn't have a choice. As two divers went off to retrieve whatever it was the lead diver wanted, on the inside, the sound of creaking metal became known once again before there was yet another explosion and the submarine fell further forward. There likely were not many bulk-heads left that were still standing under the pressure.

Jack noted to himself that they were lucky to have one or two minutes left before the submarine fully collapsed. "Krylenko.. grab on" he ordered as it dawned on him that the young Ukrainian was not holding onto the ladder under the hatch – though she did seem reluctant, she did as ordered and grabbed onto the centre of the ladder, between Jack and Belcheck. By now, the water level was practically up to their chins and with the bulk-heads giving out, they would be fully underwater in a matter of seconds.

On the outside, the two divers returned with what was a metal case – and the lead diver immediately opened it up, revealing a six-pack of grenades. Even though he had been insistent in using one of the grenades, the lead diver could fully understand the concerns of the rest of the group; an underwater explosion was known to transmit pressure with a greater intensity over a longer distance. At least if it was an explosion surrounded by air, the atmosphere would compress and absorb some of the energy. As he took a grenade from the box, the lead diver hoped to himself that Jack and whoever else was inside the submarine would be able to hang on tight. Turning around, he signalled that he wanted all the divers at a safe distance immediately – he was going to detonate the grenade and rescue those trapped inside himself.

The divers all moved back to a safe distance, just as the submarine suddenly fell even closer to the ocean-bed. The lead diver could tell he had literal seconds only to do it all. Wasting no time, he pulled out the grenade pin and angled his shot carefully before throwing it – and as he swam backwards, he took a quick look and watched the grenade fall onto the hatch. Within seconds, there was the explosion which shook the whole vessel and destroyed the hatch. Gallons and gallons of water began to fill the small gap that wasn't flooded, leaving all three survivors to clutch onto the ladder for dear life. The sudden surge of water also did not help the bulk-heads trying to stop the entire vessel crashing to the ocean floor, as within the noise of the rushing water, the sound of the bulk-heads giving out gradually increased. The lead diver knew this as he rushed back up to the top of the submarine and moved inside. There, he could make out two figures holding onto the ladder. He pulled himself down and extended both of his hands – though it took a few seconds, both hands were quickly grabbed by other hands. Pushing himself back up, even with the sound of creaking metal all around him, the diver started to retreat backwards and into the water proper. As he emerged, so did Jack and Belcheck.

Jack suddenly realized something and looked towards the Serb mobster – where was Krylenko? But all of a sudden, there was a loud crashing sound and all three men watched in shock-turned-to-horror as the Russian submarine Yuri Dolgorukiy collapsed fully to the ocean floor. The bulk-heads had finally given out under the immense strain of the water. Jack shook his head sadly; there was no way Krylenko would have survived that. In the submarine, the Ukrainian's still body floated around near the bridge. The surge of water had caused her to lose her grip on the ladder and from then, she stood no chance of survival.

On the outside, the divers came up and immediately started to help Jack and Belcheck in guiding them to the Olympia. Through the periscope, Commander Gibson looked carefully and he realized who it was that the divers were helping. "He made it! Get me Commander Robinson" he ordered, as he was handed the radio. As soon as the frequency was secured, the radio operator gave the signal. "Commander Robinson, it's Gibson! We've got him, Jack's alive!" he yelled. " _That's good – I'll alert the White House. As soon as Jack's aboard, prepare to surface. What about the submarine?_ " Robinson replied, curious. "The bulk-heads must have fully given out. It's completely fallen to the sea bed" the Olympia commander explained. "... _right. Ok, just get ready to surface_ " Robinson said before the radio was cut off. Gibson could understand his frustration; they had missed a chance to look at the Yuri Dolgorukiy and now they would have to wait to salvage the vessel.

–

 **Downtown DC**

He had only been walking about about 4 or so minutes, but the deeper into the tunnel Henderson went, the more it looked like he was getting lost. Admittedly, it was just one long tunnel that stretched on and on as opposed to tunnels with multiple choices on where to go, but now he had lost track of the Guardstrom vehicle he was following and there hadn't been another one since.

Finally, he decided to pull out his phone in an attempt to research the tunnel – what surprised him was that there was signal but what surprised him even more was that the tunnels didn't show up on any online maps. Whether it was Google or the app on his phone, the tunnels did not show up, whereas the area above the tunnel did. "Of course.. this is a ghost tunnel. That's why it doesn't show up, this doesn't officially exist!" it took a few seconds but suddenly it made sense to Henderson. He doubted anyone outside of Guardstrom actually knew of its existence, which meant that if the tunnel did lead back to the HQ, he could infiltrate the building without anyone realizing. He would need a distraction of course, but his goal of getting the controls for the super-weapon was still on.

If he came across another vehicle, he would hitch a ride on the underneath. But for now, he had no choice but to keep on walking.

06:47:41AM

–

06:50:37AM

 **Washington DC**

Just south of the Brightwood area, a blacked-out van was waved through what looked like a police stop-point. As they moved past the stop-point, the passenger put his hands in his head. "That was too close for comfort, Jones – what the heck happened that requires a police presence out here anyway?" he questioned the female driver, who he had called Jones. "I don't know and frankly, I don't care. Just keep trying with Unit 72Y" Jones snapped back, clearly just as agitated.

Rolling his eyes, the passenger picked up the radio. "Unit 72Y, this is Unit 39G. Sub-commander Andrews, please respond.." he spoke into it. As he held the radio, all he could hear was static. "That's the fourth time I've heard static already. Something must have happened to them" he stated. "Just keep trying. I know Andrews and his group, they must just be dealing with something, that's... what the hell?!" Jones replied, only to be interrupted when she saw something in the road. A burning van and a body lying behind it. "Must have been a crash or something" the passenger stated as he scanned as much as he could of the area through the heavy rain. Then he did a double-take. "Wait.. isn't that Clough?" he remarked. Jones peered off and her eyes widened. "It is!" she shouted, whipping off her seatbelt and racing out of the car. The passenger, suspicious, opened the hatch to the back of the van. "You two, hang tight. Get the guns ready" he ordered, unfastening his own seatbelt and opening the door. He had a feeling that something was not right.

As he jumped out of the car and into the pouring rain, he ran over to where Jones was. "Clough, talk to me!" the driver pleaded as she slapped his face repeatedly in an attempt to bring him round. At first, he didn't respond physically until finally, he started coughing. But it looked like he was coughing off blood. "What.. what happened?" he wheezed and tried to get up. "Don't, Clough. Just stay still. What do you remember?" Jones urged. "I... I think we hit something in the road. We... were ambushed... he killed the others.. not sure where he is" the dying agent slowly rasped out. "He, who's he? Can you describe him?" the passenger asked. "Yeah... clean-shaven, white... dark clothes... he had... a Russian accent. And somehow.. he knows our logo".

Jones' eyes went wide. Russian accent? "Did you get a name?" she demanded. Clough shook his head. "No..". Wasting no time, Jones pulled a small phone from her pocket and opened it up. Going onto an app, she retrieved a photo. "Was this him?" she almost yelled, holding it downwards so that the screen wouldn't be affected by the heavy rain. Clough took a good look and moved his head carefully to nod. "That's... that's the gu..." he said before coughing up blood one last time and going still. But not that Jones noticed as she had gone almost as white as a sheet. "What's wrong?" the passenger asked. Jones' breathing became faster as she took in the news.

"The man who attacked the unit... it's Benediktov! Alert HQ, Logan! Benediktov is in the city!" she screamed. Realizing the significance of the name given to him, Logan didn't need to be told twice as he scrambled to his feet and raced into the van's cab, grabbing the radio. "Guardstrom Headquarters, this is Unit 39G! RESPOND, OVER! REPEAT, GUARDSTROM HEADQUARTERS, THIS IS UNIT 39G! RESPOND, OVER!" he shouted twice into the radio.

–

 **Guardstrom HQ**

Just outside of Walkman's office, Evans was going off what looked like an electronic report on an iPad, with a subordinate. "Right, ok.. everything seems in check. Send this to your unit leader and I'll take care of the rest. Good job" he said finally, even managing a small smile at the end. The subordinate nodded before walking off down the hallway.

As he started to head back down the other hallway, Mack interrupted him. "Sir! Radio Operations just called. They have a priority one call for the nearest senior operative" he explained. Raising an eyebrow, Evans turned around. "Radio Operations? Why would they contact us?" he asked. It didn't make sense to him and it clearly didn't to Mack, as he could only shrug his shoulders. "All they said was it's an urgent priority" he replied. Pursuing his lips, the second-in-command nodded. "Alright, I'll listen to what they have to say" he agreed, heading to Mack's office. As he came to the phone, he looked up. "It's on Line 2" the bespectacled young man explained. Evans again nodded and clicked the button labelled "2". Within seconds, the call was connected. " _Radio Operations_ " a female voice responded. "Yes, this is Evans. I understand you have a priority one call for me?" the second-in-command replied. " _I do, sir, yes. Please stand by_ " the operator stated and the seconds ticked by before she finally responded. " _You're connected, sir_ " she stated and Evans waited a few more seconds before talking.

"This is Evans, to whom am I speaking with?" he asked. " _SIR! Oh thank god! It's Agent Logan, sir, from Unit 39G! We have an emergency!_ " Logan practically shouted in the radio, causing Evans to recoil momentarily. But now he was even more confused – why on earth would one of the Guardstrom Units be ringing him instead of someone else? "Ok, what's the emergency?" he asked. " _Oh it's bad, sir! It's really bad!_ Sub-commander Jones, myself and the rest of the Unit were heading back to HQ – but then we stumbled across Unit 72Y. They'd been ambushed, they're all dead!" Logan replied over the sound of the rain and as he watched Jones cover up the still bodies of the ambushed Unit. The statement of the Unit being ambushed and killed raised Evans' suspicions. " _Ambushed? How do you mean_?" he replied. "Just that, sir! Their van's been blown up and when we got there, _nearly all of them were dead_!" the agent replied. Evans looked towards Mack, who was shocked at what he was hearing. "I thought you said all of the Unit had been killed, now you're saying nearly all of them were dead?" he stated pointedly. " _I'm getting to that, sir! When we got there,_ Agent Clough was the only survivor. He told us what happened! It's bad, sir – it's REALLY bad!" Logan insisted, almost in hysterics.

Evans quickly stood up, still holding the phone. "What happened?" he asked, half-sternly and half-scared. At first, he could only hear what sounded like laboured breathing. " _He's here, sir.. don't ask me how, but he's here..._ Benediktov attacked the Unit! He's here in DC! _And he could be headed right for you!_ " Logan finally responded. The agent did say a lot more, but neither Evans or Mack could hear him. Evans had released the phone from his grip and it had smashed into Mack's desk. Evans' face was the opposite of a picture – his eyes filled with pure horror and his blood running cold. Mack was worried the second-in-command was going to pass out. "Sir?" he asked, waving his hand in front of Evans when he didn't respond. Finally, he got a response. "The President.. where..?" he was asked. "She's still in her office, what's going on?" Mack asked, now worried. But he didn't get an answer as the second-in-command burst past him and practically slammed the door to Walkman's office down. "JORDAN!" he yelled in terror and Walkman looked up to see him run up to her and grab her by the arm, pulling her back around her desk. "CHRIS! What is going on?!" the Guardstrom President shouted, before turning her head back around to see if Heather had noticed. And to her relief, she hadn't – Heather was somehow still asleep.

"It's bad, Madame President. Really bad!" Evans finally explained, which caused Walkman to turn around. And for the first time, she could see the complete fear in his eyes. Something was very wrong. "What's going on?" she asked, now concerned. "One of the Units was ambushed on their way back here – all of the agents in that unit are dead. But one lived long enough to confirm who had attacked them.." Evans explained, his voice shaking throughout. For Walkman, she was now very worried about what Evans was going to reply with. "Who was it?" she asked, desperately hoping the second-in-command would not give the answer she feared. But it wasn't to be. "It was Benediktov – don't ask me how... but he's in DC! He's in the bloody city!" Evans replied. Now it was Walkman's turn for her blood to run cold. Benediktov was in Washington DC – and he was likely coming to find them. She now had not only Henderson to deal with but also the Russian General. Things were starting to fall apart rapidly. Evans had repeatedly tried to warn her about Benediktov potentially making it to DC but she just wouldn't listen. Now he was in DC and it was almost too late to do anything – she knew full well she had to make preparations to flee the country before the Russian found her. "Madame President? We need to go to red alert. You need to activate everything.." Evans said quietly, pressing down on a button on the desk. A hand-recognition emerged from the desk.

Walkman sighed – she didn't want to have to do this. But at the minute, she really couldn't see any other choice. She moved her right hand upwards and slotted it into the panel. "Hand-palm recognition confirmed. Going to Red Alert.." a male computer voice responded and within seconds, an alarm started to sound throughout the base. Unit personnel and operatives all stopped as the alarm rang out. " **Attention – this is President Walkman. We are now on high alert. All units return to base, all unauthorized personnel begin evacuation procedures! Repeat, this is President Walkman. We are now on high**..." Walkman's voice rang out throughout the base as personnel and operatives sprang into action, either opening up panels to retrieve weapons or ushering the unauthorized personnel to the evacuation chutes. Within Radio Operations, meanwhile, all the operatives had sprung into action – repeating the warnings and ordering all Guardstrom Units back to the HQ.

What they didn't know, however, was that Unit 39G were not going to get that warning. At the precise moment that the warning was being aired across the Unit Radios, Logan was being slammed into the van. And being stabbed through the heart. As he fell to the ground dying, he could hear gunshots all around him. And from the corner of his eye, Jones fell to the ground. They hadn't seen it coming, they hadn't realized that the person who had attacked Unit 72Y had been monitoring them. And now that same person had sprung up on them. The two agents in the back of the van scrambled for two guns and immediately made their way into the heavy rain – only for one of them to be immediately shot at, whilst the other forced himself onto the wet ground. He watched his partner fall to the ground and he immediately rolled to his left, which proved to prolong his life for just a bit longer as bullets hit the ground exactly where he had been. The agent scrambled to his feet and pressed his back up against the van as he tried to get a location on the person attacking them.

Even as the heavy rain poured down on him, he kept alert – and quickly raced up to the remains of the van that had belonged to Unit 72Y. He was thankful the heavy rain had long put out the fire ravaging the van and quickly hid at the front of it. Which proved to be a fatal mistake as he wasn't aware that the figure was in possession of a grenade. He pulled the pin out and threw it towards the burnt-out remains, angling his shot carefully so that it hit the back of the drivers cab – the resulting explosion sending the agent flying backwards with a lot of force. But remarkably, he was still alive as he struggled to his feet – allowing him to be shot three times through the head by the figure, falling backwards dead. The figure lowered his gun and smiled. "Two units dead for the price of one – and I get a van thrown in!" Benediktov joked as he moved towards the back of the van that had belonged to Unit 39G. He peered into the back and his smile grew bigger. He could see multiple guns, grenades and ammunition. Just what he would likely need when he got to Guardstrom HQ. He closed the doors to the back of the van and made sure they were securely closed before moving to the front of the van. As he fastened his seatbelt in the driver's seat, he quickly turned on the navigation system and typed in Guardstrom HQ.

The small map quickly zoomed out before zooming back in, the map highlighting a clear route to somewhere the HQ. "Perfect.." the Russian said as he closed both doors before driving off towards the city centre. He was so close to Walkman and the HQ; practically nothing was going to stop him now.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Onboard the Albany, Commander Robinson was again looking out of the bridge window with binoculars – he was waiting for the Olympia to surface. Then, from the corner of his eye, he could see the rough water bubbling near his vessel and within seconds, the submarine surfaced. "Tell the men on deck to get the gang-planks ready, I'm heading out to meet them!" Robinson ordered as he left the bridge.

Outside, meanwhile, the weather was unexpectedly frantic with a combination of strong winds and heavy rain not helping the men on the deck of the vessel. A bolt of lightning struck the skies as the hatch to the Olympia opened up and Jack emerged. As he scanned the area, he could see several petty officers placing gang-planks in the gap between the vessel and the submarine. Making it out of the hatch, he immediately walked onto the planks and carefully made his way onto the John C. Albany, with Belcheck and Commander Gibson closely following. "Mr Bauer! Commander Robinson, how are you holding up?" As Jack had walked off the gang-planks, Robinson had made his way out onto the deck and walked over to the edge of it. As he shook hands with Jack, he made sure to ask if he was ok considering what he had been through, being trapped near the bottom of the ocean in a sinking submarine. "Yeah, I'm fine. Nothing a bit of fresh air won't fix" the former agent joked. As Belcheck and Gibson made their way onto the vessel, another bolt of lightning struck the sky followed by a massive boom of thunder. "I'd say let's get out of this weather, President Novick's waiting on the radio" Robinson stated and he led the trio from the Olympia into the vessel proper.

Several miles away, meanwhile, back in the White House, Chloe was hard at work. As instructed by Novick, she was looking into the helicopter incident near the Brightwood area north of the city – the more she researched and the more information she got from the Director of NCIS, the more she was beginning to understand why Novick thought something was off. The helicopter had made a scheduled cargo drop off at the blockade around the time the Yuri Dolgorukiy and everything had seemed fine – but then there was the factor that the helicopter couldn't have crashed as the NCIS operatives that had found the Super Stallion had reported no real outside damage that indicated it had crashed. It was as Kim suggested, as if someone was trying to get rid of evidence. At that moment, her phone began to ring and she quickly put it on speaker. "This is O'Brian" she spoke into it. " _I apologize for the delay, Miss O'Brian – but as promised, we've located the helicopter pilots_ " a gruff male voice responded. Chloe sighed in relief. "Thank you, put them on" she stated. After a few seconds of static and silence, she got the response she hoped for. " _Hello?_ " Danny asked. "Are you Daniel Howard?" the former analyst responded, hoping to get the names right. " _I am – you're also on with Nick Freeman. What do you need?_ " the helicopter pilot said.

"I just have some questions concerning your last flight from the North Atlantic Ocean. What happened exactly?" Chloe started off her round of questions with what she considered to be a simple one. " _Well, it happened as soon as we were in the air and heading back to the city; we had a stowaway passenger onboard, held us at gunpoint and told us to fly him to DC_ " Nick explained. Chloe paused – stowaway passenger? In the North Atlantic? That just sounded a bit far-fetched as far as she was concerned. "Tell me about this passenger" she responded, not wanting the pilots to think she didn't believe them. " _There's not much to say.. all that really stood out about him was that he was Russian_ " Danny replied.

"Ok.. are you sure there's nothing else about him? Features? A name?" the analyst pushed for an answer – but inside, she was worried. A Russian stowaway in the North Atlantic.. she was praying inside that the stowaway wasn't who she thought it was. " _I'm sorry, there really isn't nothing else we could describe about him_ " Nick explained apologetically. Chloe sighed and put her head in her hands. "Not even a name?" she made a desperate push for an answer. " _Wait... the insignias on his uniform. I recognized them, I think he's a General in the Russian military.._ " Danny said, quickly remembering what he had seen. As a war veteran, he could tell what rank military officers were based on their insignia. And it was this piece of information that set things going for Chloe. She just needed a name or a confirmation.

"I've sent to your location a likely photo we have in our archives. Is this the stowaway?" she asked, sending over a photo of Benediktov. She held her hands together tight, anxious at just what the pilots were gonna say – and finally, they replied. " _Yes.. yes, that's him.._ " Nick said. In that same instance, Chloe's blood ran cold. "Right, thank you..." she said so quietly that it was likely the two pilots only just heard it. The former analyst slowly ended the phone call and closed the tabs that were open on her laptop. "Damn it...!" she whispered as she got to her feet and raced out the door, picking up the laptop as she ran. She had to alert Novick.

Back in the North Atlantic, Robinson strolled onto the bridge. "Sir! The connection's ready, we're on with the President!" Higley stated. "Thank you, Higley, I'll take it from here" the Commander responded, holding out his hand for the radio. The moment it was given to him, he spoke into it. "Mr President? This is Commander Robinson! Thank you for your patience" he stated. " _Not a problem, Commander. I understand you have some news?_ " Novick responded. "Yes, sir, we do. Unfortunately, _the Russian submarine has fully sunken to the bottom of the ocean. Until the heavy-duty equipment arrives, there's not much we can do_ " the Commander explained, whilst Novick, Yanes, a handful of White House staff and Kim listened in. "Ok. I had a feeling that might happen. Anything else?" the Acting President replied. " _Yes, actually there is. Don't ask me how, but Bauer's alive! He made it onboard the Russian vessel and he got out before it sunk_!" Robinson responded. Novick's eyes shot up and he immediately looked towards Kim, who breathed a massive sigh of relief. Her dad was still alive.

"Can we speak to him?" Novick asked. " _Yes!_ Jack?" the Commander said instantly, handing over the radio to the former agent. "How's everything holding up, Mike?" Jack spoke into the radio. Kim almost shrieked in delight at hearing her dad's voice, but she managed to keep it in. "Everything's fine, Jack – but I have to ask, HOW did you make it into the submarine?" Novick demanded to know. " _It's a long story, sir –_ but we might have a problem on our hands. For starters, I don't think Benediktov was on the submarine when it sank" the former agent explained. Novick was confused. "I.. don't understand. He couldn't have escaped, where's there to escape to?" he asked. " _I checked, sir_ " Belcheck interrupted. "Around the time submarine sank, the computer said that the escape pod had been deployed" he added, now standing next to Jack as he spoke into the radio. Novick turned his head. "Commander Robinson – have you or _any of the other ships seen the escape pod?_ " he asked. "Can't say that we have. Commander Gibson?" Robinson replied before turning to the submarine commander. "Negative, no sign of the escape pod on the Olympia's radars" Gibson stated.

On the deck of the vessel, a petty officer that had fallen to the deck as a result of the weather was helped to his feet by a lieutenant. "Come on, let's get inside! This weather's making me feel sick!" the lieutenant noted. But as they were heading in, the petty officer spotted something. "What's that?!" he remarked, pointing at something floating around on the surface. Pulling out a pocket telescope, the lieutenant scanned the area and frowned. "That... that looks like an escape pod – from... that's the escape pod from the submarine!" he had hoped at first it was an escape pod from the downed vessel Columbia but there hadn't been a single trace of it, like as though it had sunk to the bottom of the ocean. But then he saw the writing on this pod. Russian. It had to be from the Yuri Dolgorukiy. "Get me the Commander!" he ordered the petty officer, who didn't bother running into the ship – instead, he opted to run to outside the bridge and bang on the window to get Robinson's attention. "SIR! We found something – an escape pod!" he yelled, pointing in the direction of the ocean surface desperately. Following the petty officer's arm, Robinson looked through the binoculars and spotted the escape pod.

He tried to read the writing but realized he couldn't. And then it dawned on him; the writing was in Russian. "Jack.." he turned towards the former agent and handed him the binoculars, indicating he should look for himself. Following Robinson's lead, Jack peered out through the binoculars and spotted the pod. He slowly lowered them, a look of horror on his face. "That's from the Russian vessel!" he spluttered, immediately turning back towards the radio and grabbing it. "Mike, please tell me nothing _out of the ordinary has happened?_ " he asked desperately. Novick frowned and looked at Kim. "Can't say anything has – what's going on, Jack?" he asked. But before the former agent could respond, Chloe burst in. "MR PRESIDENT! We have a problem.." she said, her tone of voice showing she was scared. " _Chloe?!_ " Jack almost shouted, realizing who it was and unwittingly speaking for Novick. If Chloe thought there was a problem, there usually was. "Jack.." upon hearing the voice of her best friend, the former analyst was momentarily distracted as she came into the room properly. "What is it, Chloe?" Novick snapped her back into it and she looked across the room.

"I looked into the helicopter incident as you said, Mr President – spoke with the pilots. It transpires that they had a stowaway onboard who forced them to land where they did. _And that stowaway destroyed the helicopter to throw us off the scent_ " she explained. Jack was starting to gain an uneasy feeling about what the former analyst was going to say. "And? Do you know who this stowaway was?" he asked. Silence fell. "Yes... and it's not good. It's Benediktov. Don't ask me how... but he's made it _onto American soil_ " Chloe confirmed. The blood drained away from Jack's face and as he turned around, it looked like as though someone had punched him in the stomach. General Benediktov, against all conceivable odds.. had made it to DC. The President was in danger. The government was in danger. And so was the city. " _Jack? Jack?_ " he could hear Novick call out over the radio. Finally, he answered. "Mr President... how secure is the bunker?" he asked.

Novick looked at Yanes. "From what I can tell, it's secure.." he responded. " _With all due respect, sir, that's not good enough._ You need to get all non-essential personnel out of the bunker and out of the White House NOW!" Jack declared. " _Ok, but what about you, Jack?_ " the Acting President asked. " _I've checked the schedule, Mr President – we've got a Navy chopper from NCIS coming out here in the next 20 minutes to drop off divers!_ When it arrives, Jack and Mr Belcheck can fly back to DC" Robinson interjected, nodding at both Jack and Belcheck as he spoke. " _Alright, that's fine. You just get back here soon, Jack!_ " Novick responded. " _Will do, sir – but in the meantime, lock down the bunker!_ " the former agent ordered, before the radio cut off. The Acting President looked up at Yanes. "Agent Yanes, begin lockdown procedures. Any unauthorized personnel, escort them back up to the main building. But leave Kim here" he ordered before pointing at Kim – he certainly didn't want to send Kim out to her potential death. "Sir" Yanes nodded before heading out of the room.

Novick shook his head. Things were truly starting to go from bad to worse. He just hoped Jack made it back to DC in time and before Benediktov would be able to do anything major.

–

06:57:12AM

 **Washington DC**

Racing down the road and towards the centre of DC was the blacked-out van – with Benediktov carefully following the instructions on the navigation. For some reason, plotting the route into the city centre was going fine but the system was having trouble tracking down the exact location of the HQ. But Benediktov wasn't too fussed by this as he knew it was probably the weather causing the havoc. All that mattered was that he was eventually going to find the HQ and then he was going to launch hell on Walkman for what she did. Attacking his country, attacking his followers, KILLING HIS DAUGHTER.. she was going to wish she'd never been born when he got his hands on her!

But as he moved down the road, he could have sworn he had seen something in the road – it was hard to get a definite fix on what it was, but it looked like he was coming towards him. And at the last second, it jumped out at him. The Russian slammed on the brakes and swerved to the left, coming to a stop in the middle of the road. "God's sake.." he muttered as he unfastened his seatbelt and climbed out of the van. He was sure he didn't hit anything but he wanted to be certain at the same time. He scanned the area of road behind the van and found nothing, not even a cloak on the road. With a gruff sigh, the Russian walked back towards the van. Looking up at the sky just as there was a boom of thunder, he sat back down in the driver's seat and closed the door, just as a gun was pressed against his head. "Hello, General Benediktov. You've proven a hard man to find" Cannavale retorted as he closed his own door. Benediktov simply placed his hands on the steering wheel. "And who are you exactly?" he asked. "My name doesn't matter – I'm here because I want your help" the mercenary responded. The Russian simply looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "You come into my vehicle and hold a gun to my head and yet you're the one requiring help?" he pointed out. Cannavale simply stared at him before lowering the gun. "In short, yes – I do need your help" he said.

The General smirked. "And why should I help you exactly? I can assure you right now, son, that whatever petty feud you have going on is nothing compared to what I'm trying do do" he responded in a tone that suggested he was simply saying it as it is. "That's where you're wrong – we both have the same goals" Cannavale insisted. At that, Benediktov laughed. "Do we really? How does you petty feud link in with what I'm about to do?" he retorted. Only he wasn't expecting the answer given to him. "Guardstrom President Jordan Walkman" the mercenary replied. At that, Benediktov stopped laughing. He again rose an eyebrow at the man opposite. "Go on.." he said, now intrigued. "Walkman tried to pull the wool over my eyes – she pretended to make a deal with me and then send her goons not once but TWICE in an attempt to try and kill me" Cannavale lied, taking in elements of what Henderson had told him in his attempts to get the General on side. When he saw Benediktov staring at him with more curiosity, he continued to spin his partial-web of lies and truth. "Walkman's developed a weapon – a weapon unlike anything this country or your country has ever seen. The Russian submarine you travelled here in.. I wouldn't be surprised if this weapon had the potential to rip off the Yuri Dolgorukiy without wasting a lick of time!" he continued.

If Cannavale wasn't sure beforehand of whether the Russian was convinced by the story he was telling, Benediktov looked convinced now. "So... Walkman has attacked not just me but also yourself. Is there no-one that woman won't turn her focus on?" the General stated rhetorically. The front cab of the van remained silent for quite a few seconds with the heavy rain smashing against the windscreen being the only sound. Until the Russian spoke up again. "What's your name, son?" he asked. As Cannavale turned to face him, the General continued. "Only, if we're going to work together in attacking Walkman, we should get to know each other".

Cannavale smirked. "Call me Clarke, all my friends do" he said, holding his hand out for Benediktov to shake it. "Alright then, Clarke" the Russian responded, shaking the open hand. At that moment, the navigation system began to beep. "Navigation search complete – return course to Guardstrom Headquarters finalized" the voice beeped. Looking at the laid out course, Benediktov smiled as he closed the driver's door. "Alrighty, looks like we have a bit of a journey, Clarke. But enough time to lay out a plan of action. Walkman won't know what hit her!" the Russian said, a smug smile forming as he fastened his seatbelt. Cannavale could only nod, looking out through the windscreen as Benediktov restarted the van's engine, before driving off. He was certainly right, the mercenary thought to himself; Walkman was not going to know what was about to hit her. But he hoped this would be enough to convince Henderson to let his daughter go.

Underneath DC, meanwhile, in the ghost tunnels as Henderson had described them, things were still and quiet. But from out of the shadows, a blacked-out van appeared and drove down through the tunnel towards the HQ, followed by another van and another van and then another van. At first, everything seemed normal but what the drivers in the front cab of the first van didn't realize was that something had scrambled underneath their van and was holding on for dear life. And that something was Henderson, hitching a secret ride to Guardstrom HQ.

"You're gonna pay, Walkman.. mark my words!" he hissed. He didn't care what it would take, he was going to get his hands on Project Connaughton even if it killed him.

–

07:00:00AM

* * *

So.. there we go. Benediktov is finally on American soil and heading straight for Guardstrom HQ, as is Henderson. Next chapter, I'm not sure when that'll be done, as it's gonna be big. If things weren't hotting up before now, they will be. Certain events are gonna take place that Jack won't see coming, that the White House won't see coming, that even the villainous factions WILL NOT SEE COMING!

See you all next time


	21. 21: 7am - 8am (WET)

Hello, my amazing followers!

Well - this. is. it. The home stretch of the story. The first of the last four chapters and if they're anything like this chapter, it's gonna be big. I'm hoping to get the story completed by December but don't hold me to that - chapters will be uploaded when they're uploaded and now that I've graduated from uni, I may have more time on my hands. But I appreciate all those who have stuck by this story no matter what. Thank you all :-)

So, without any further ado, here is Hour 21! The biggest chapter of the story in terms of length as it manages to go over 23,000 words!

 **DISCLAIMER: Please read Chapter 1 as always**

* * *

21: 7am – 8am (WET):

 **The following takes place between 7am and 8am, Washington Eastern Time:**

07:00:01AM

 **Guardstrom HQ**

In the short space of time since the HQ was placed on high alert and the warning alarms activated, the main building was abuzz with action. Operatives were either escorting unauthorized personnel to safety, loading up weapons and transporting them to the necessary locations or just getting into position. They knew that if the building was on high alert, they had to be ready for any kind of situation. And this was unlike any other – many of them knew of the danger that General Benediktov posed. He had to be stopped, he simply had to.

"Nearly all unauthorized personnel have been evacuated, we're just waiting on the lower floors to report in" Evans explained to Walkman as they walked through one of the hallways near the bottom of the building, operatives squeezing past them in a hurry as they walked. "Ok, that's good – how is setting up the weapon bays going?" Walkman replied, accepting the offer of Evans' iPad to look over files. "Pretty good so far; I'd say the units have proven they can cope under pressure. Some of the operatives will need a bit longer than others but I think everything will be ready within the next 15 minutes" the second-in-command responded, before stopping and pushing Walkman back against the wall to allow one of the units to come past with a large trolley of what looked like ammunition and explosives. "Sir, Madame President" one of them acknowledged both with two nods of the head as he walked past them.

As soon as the unit had fully passed, Walkman looked towards Evans. "That's fine – but if you find any stranglers, send them to help any other units. There's simply no telling if and when Benediktov could attack; frankly, 15 minutes may be too long" she said. Evans knew she was right; the Russian General could attack at any moment. If they weren't careful, he could launch an attack here and now and everyone would be completely caught off-guard. Time was against them at the minute. Suddenly, there was a loud ringing and Evans, realizing that it was his phone, pulled it from his pocket. Much to his surprise, it was Dr Hampson; he immediately flipped the phone open. "Go ahead, Hampson" he said. " _Sir, with the greatest respect, WHAT THE HELL is going on?_ I've been trying to get an answer for all the alarms but no-one will tell me!" Hampson replied in a rather pissed off tone as he watched several operatives that had helped work on Project Connaughton being escorted out of the laboratories by armed soldiers. " _Listen, Dr, there's a simple explanation for.._ " Evans attempted to reply only to be interrupted. "Don't give me the simple explanation routine! And whilst we're at it, why are some of my operatives being forced out of the building?!" Hampson snapped back.

Evans looked back at Walkman, who had a frown on her face and then indicated to hand her the phone, which he did. "Dr Hampson, hello" the Guardstrom President said as she spoke into the phone. Hampson's angry expression immediately softened. "Madame President.." he said rather quietly, his mood now the opposite of what it had been with Evans. " _I understand your frustrations and you have a right to do –_ to put it simply, we've had to put the HQ on high alert. There's a genuine threat within the city and we have to take all measures to contain this threat.. _and I'm afraid to say that that includes evacuation of unauthorized personnel, which would explain why some of your men are being escorted out._ Don't worry, they won't be harmed but we simply have to take precaution" Walkman said, explaining the situation as simply as she could. Hampson sighed lightly. "Alright, I can understand that. But if we are on high alert... _what does that mean for Project Connaughton? Do we launch it?_ " he asked. Walkman rose an eyebrow in surprise; the last 10 minutes had been a complete blur and she simply hadn't even given a thought to Project Connaughton. "How quickly can you prepare Project Connaughton for take-off?" she asked. This caught the doctor off-guard. " _How.. how quickly?_ " he responded. "Yes. If all else fails and this threat is able to attack Guardstrom HQ, _we need Project Connaughton as a last resort_ " Walkman explained.

As she spoke, Hampson looked over at his laptop and began rapidly typing on it. "If we start launch preparations now, we should be able to have it in the launch chute before 07:15 – and then _it should be airborne before 08:00 hours if we're lucky_ " he replied over the phone, with Evans listening very closely to the conversation. "Alright.. do it. Start launch preparation" Walkman ordered. "Yes, Ma'am.. oh and Ma'am?" Hampson said as he began typing on his laptop. " _Yes?_ " he could hear Walkman over the phone. Seconds ticked by. "Never mind. I will contact Evans as soon as Project Connaughton is in the launch chute" he instead said before hanging up. He was almost contemplating telling the Guardstrom President about his conversation with Evans, but then he figured it didn't really matter. The super-weapon was being launched. "Alright, men! New orders from the powers that be – prepare Project Connaughton for launch immediately!" he shouted out towards the remaining operatives that hadn't been escorted out of the laboratories. Within an instance, the operatives sprung into action.

Hampson knew that they had to work quickly – this threat that Walkman had mentioned, there was a strong chance that there could be an attack sooner than everyone thought. If they wasted even a second on getting the weapon launched, there was no telling what might happen.

–

 **White House**

Miles underneath the White House in the bunker, meanwhile, the Secret Service were in the midst of completing their own mass security operation – and much like within Guardstrom HQ, agents were evacuating any unauthorized personnel and then preparing to lock down the bunker further. Yanes watched the doors to the elevator close; the elevator was returning to overground with what was the second to last group of personnel that had been ordered to evacuate. There was one last group of personnel due to be escorted overground and as soon as that was done, the bunker could be fully locked down. He quickly left as the lift started its journey upwards, ready to help escort the last group of personnel towards the lift shaft.

In the main briefing room, meanwhile, Novick was walking up and down to the left of the table, hands on his hips. He was trying to understand everything he had been told in the last two hours on General Benediktov, but something about what he had been told just didn't seem to add up. "I just don't understand how he could have bypassed not just our military but the Russian military as well! I mean, he's a Russian General, you'd think Surarov would keep tabs on anything high-ranking in the military!" he pointed out, moving his arms out and looking at everyone in the room – which comprised of Chloe, three Secret Service agents and a General, whose medals and rank insignia's indicated she was in the Army, talking through a mobile phone in the background. "Well.. from what I can gather, sir, Surarov's government only keeps tabs on those who are actually still in the military. The information I have is limited but apparently Benediktov was involved in something that led to him going rogue – the military distanced themselves from him, he was denounced as a traitor and no-one heard from him until when he attacked the base in Greenland" Chloe replied, looking over the information she had available. But this did nothing to pacify Novick.

"Involved in something? Come on, Chloe! There has to be more than that – what exactly did he do that made him a traitor?" the Acting President snapped, unconvinced by the former analyst's response. "I've tried looking into that, sir. There's literally little or nothing that gives away what he did, but then again I'm not too surprised if the Russians are covering it up" Chloe argued back, not wanting to lose her patience. But she was right in that she couldn't find anything – information on what it was Benediktov did that led to him being disgraced and going rogue was extremely limited. She had found certain trigger words such as submarine and cover-up and destruction but considering how certain governments would go to lengths to cover up disasters in their own countries, she had to consider the possibility that there were words designed to throw snoopers off the scent.

Novick simply stared at her before sighing and turning around. She did have a point; Surarov had given assurances that Russia was not involved in the attacks and that he roundly condemned Benediktov's actions and that the Russian military were willing to assist in the hunt for the General, but there was a chance that he was indirectly assisting by not making clear what it was that Benediktov did in the first place that led to him going rogue. Even the slightest clue would give some insight into why the General was doing all this. Novick looked back at the former analyst. "What about actually tracking him? Do we have any indication as to where he is?" he asked hopefully. Chloe shook his head. "Not a trace of him – I've tried everything on the US satellites. I wouldn't be surprised if he was onto us, blocking his signal somehow; he may be a traitor to Russia but he's not stupid" she replied. Novick frowned once again. Why was it they were having so much trouble trying to locate this one man?!

But before he could reply, the Army General ended her phone call and turned towards the Acting President. "Mr President!" she called out and both Chloe and Novick looked towards her. "I've just got off the phone with the Russian Embassy – they're on the lookout for Benediktov and should he make himself known, they'll let us know" the Army General continued. Novick sighed in relief. "Well that's one bit of good news at least. General Hogan, how quickly in this weather could military checkpoints go up?" he replied. Chloe and Hogan looked at him in surprise. "Sir?" the General asked. "If we're gonna catch Benediktov, we need the roads to be as limited as we can get them. Setting up checkpoints might catch him out" the Acting President explained. But Chloe wasn't convinced. "With respect, sir, it's early morning. People are gonna be either on their way to work or considering the attacks earlier today, trying to get out the city. Setting up checkpoints could instil panic" she reasoned. Novick made a face as he mulled over what the former analyst was saying. "That is true, Chloe – but at present and considering what Benediktov is capable of, I say we don't really have much in the way of choice. We want to put an end to the threat, we have to put up those checkpoints" he decided.

Chloe almost looked away, disappointed at what Novick was saying. "How about this – until we catch Benediktov, we put in a curfew. No-one will be allowed to leave their homes until we catch him" the Acting President suggested. But this only led to the look of disappointment on Chloe's face growing. Curfew, allowing no-one to leave their homes? Novick was no Charles Logan but these were the same acts Logan used to try and catch out Jack during the Sentox conspiracy. But unlike with Logan, at least Novick was suggesting them for solid and justified reasons. "Alright, go ahead" she said reluctantly. Novick looked towards Hogan. "General Hogan, give the order. Set up the checkpoints" he ordered. "Sir" Hogan nodded as she got up and left the briefing room in order to make the needed arrangements. As the door that the General had opened began to swing closed, Yanes walked in. "Mr President! The last of the personnel have been evacuated. Permission to lock down the bunker?" he asked. Novick nodded. "Do it!"

Outside the lift shaft, two agents waited for the elevator to come to a stop at the bottom of the bunker – as soon as the agents escorting to the personnel to the surface emerged from the elevator, the final lockdown procedures could begin. Finally, the doors opened and two other Secret Service agents emerged. "Ok, Tracy – you know what to do!" one agent said to his partner, who immediately opened up a panel next to the elevator. Inside the panel was a hand-print recognition system. The agent, called Tracy by his partner, placed his right hand inside the system and after a few seconds of scanning, a binging sound was heard. " _ **Hand-print recognition confirmed. Access code required**_ " a computerized voice declared. Agent Tracy's partner walked forward. "6-S-H-2-9-F-Alpha Omega" he responded. A sound of beeping and whirling could be heard around the shaft. " _ **Access code confirmed. Access code accepted. Beginning lockdown procedure**_ " the voice declared and both agents walked back as the doors to the elevator closed. Followed by a set of metal sheets coming together and closing from a horizontal angle and then another set of metal sheets coming together and closing from a vertical angle. Finally, a metal panel emerged from the right-hand wall, also coming with a hand-print recognition system. Tracy placed his left hand into it and much with the other hand-print system, there was a binging sound. " _ **Hand-print recognition confirmed. Lockdown completed**_ " the voice declared. Tracy looked up. "It's done. Nothing can get in, nothing can get out" he said to his partner.

"I'll go tell the President" the un-named agent offered before heading off.

–

 **Washington DC**

Several miles above ground in the city centre and back in the pouring rain, a blacked-out van made its way through the roads. Inside, General Benediktov was keeping an eye out – he didn't want to have another incident that would make him have to stop, not when he was in the city centre and this close to Walkman. Everything he had done thus far would have been for nothing if he was caught and considering what had been going on, he was expecting heavy security within the centre of DC.

"Oh god... this is not good" he heard his passenger mutter quietly. He peered over at Cannavale, who was now wearing an ear-piece and listening to radio communications. "Problem, son?" the General asked. "Yeah, pretty much – I've been monitoring radio communique as best as I can. The order has been given for the military to set up checkpoints all around the city centre" Cannavale replied, fear in his tone of voice. Benediktov tightened his grip on the steering wheel. No doubt the military had been fully briefed on him and had been told to be on the lookout. He internally sighed. Just then, the navigation system came to life. "At the next left, turn right for 10 minutes and wait within the Rurruthers car park" the voice stated. Cannavale gave a look of surprise. "Rurruthers car park? But that place has been abandoned for months! It's in an isolated spot, nothing major surrounding it" he pointed out. Benediktov rose an eyebrow. "I see – there must be a reason why the navigation would want us to go there" he reasoned.

But the mercenary just wasn't convinced. Something about it seemed off. "There's got to be a reason why though, would have thought there would be an above ground entrypoint" he replied, as he started to search around the passenger seat in the hopes of finding something that would explain why they had to go to an car park to get into Guardstrom HQ. But then he did find something. A folded-up map inside a black book hidden within the passenger glove compartment. Opening up the map, Cannavale was completely taken aback by what he saw. "Bloody hell.." he whispered and his shocked expression caught the attention of Benediktov. "What is it?" he asked curiously. "It's... the car park.. Guardstrom has underground tunnels!" the mercenary spluttered. This was enough for Benediktov to slam on the brakes of the van and both men nearly went flying forward because of the impact of braking. "Underground tunnels? Are you sure you're looking at that right?!" the General nearly shouted in amazement as he grabbed the map. But to his surprise, he found Cannavale was not lying. Photos on the map showed that if you parked in a certain spot in the car park, next to what appeared to be a cash point, the piece of tarmac that you parked on could be lowered down into the ground. For there was a long stretch of road leading downwards and round the corner. Almost like a ghost tunnel.

"Well, I'll be – so that's how we get into the HQ. Underground!" the Russian remarked. Now it made sense. Suddenly, the two were knocked out of their senses by a loud crash coming from just in front of the van, which was now turning 90 degrees to the left. Through the slightly cracked windscreen, Cannavale could see a large vehicle in front of them – something had clearly crashed into them. Regaining his senses, Benediktov climbed out of the van and looked out. Much to his bewilderment, there was a large fuel tanker in front of them. What the two hadn't realized was that when Benediktov had braked sharply, the van had stopped on a cross-road and that the tanker had come from the road on their right. Benediktov looked back along the tanker – and then realized what it was. A thought dawned. He peered back down into the van's cab. "You think you could drive that?" he asked Cannavale, who looked back as well. "Yeah.. but why? We'd never get that through the tunnels!" he reasoned. "True – but to be honest, I think you're right. No reason why there shouldn't be an overground entrypoint" the Russian replied, as he walked back around to the driver's side. "Have a look in the book, let me know – I'll see if the driver's okay" he added before walking up towards the driver side of the tanker.

Cannavale set to work looking in the book, but couldn't help seeing what Benediktov was up to – why was he suddenly wanting to check and see if the tanker driver was okay? The Russian climbed up towards the cab door and forced it open, spotting the driver coming to. "You ok, son?" he asked, showing fake concern as the driver put his head against the head-rest. He seemed alright. "Yeah.. sorry, I just didn't see you" he replied honestly. "Well, that's alright.. you won't be seeing this" Benediktov replied, discreetly pulling out a knife and pushing down on the switch to reveal the blade.. before swiftly plunging it into the driver's head. Pulling it out after a few seconds, he grabbed a hold of the driver's body and pulled it out of the cab, throwing it onto the van front and allowing it to bounce onto the side of the road, making Cannavale jump in the process. As Benediktov climbed down, a thought came to mind and he started to walk all around the tanker, checking the underneath repeatedly. Cannavale continued to scan the book in the hopes of finding out the location of a possible overground entryway for the HQ – and he finally found it. It was literally a few minutes away in the other direction. "Anything?" Benediktov suddenly appeared, making the mercenary jump once again.

–

07:08:56AM

"Yeah.. yeah, I found an entryway that's overground. Must be the main building" he explained before looking at Benediktov. "Excellent – I apologize for taking so long. The driver's been dealt with but I had to check and see if the crash started a leak. It hasn't, which is good as I have a new plan" the Russian explained, getting back into the driver's seat to protect himself from the rain. Cannavale was intrigued. "Go on" he replied. "I will carry onto the car park and get in underground. You will drive to the overground entryway and wait for my instructions as soon as you get there. Guardstrom will definitely not know what hit them!" Benediktov continued. Cannavale was taken aback by the idea but then he started to gain an idea of what would happen. And he liked it. "So what are you waiting for? Go get in the tanker if you want to avoid the checkpoints!" the Russian said rather bluntly. Realizing what he meant, Cannavale jumped out of the van and towards the driver side of the tanker. Benediktov was pretty confident this would work.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Visibility was not as badly impaired as it was when the storm started, but it was still somewhat poor. Almost to the point where the crew of the cruiser Albany almost didn't spot the helicopter carrying divers coming towards them until it was almost above them.

But thankfully, any confusion was cleared up as the helicopter came into land. Emerging from inside were Jack and Belcheck, followed closely by Commander Robinson. The left-hand door on the helicopter, with several divers walking out and towards inside – as they passed the three men, they made sure to salute Robinson. "Commander Robinson!". Of the people still left on the helicopter, there were the two pilots and what appeared to be an NCIS agent. The agent climbed down and walked towards the trio. "I apologize for the delay, visibility is still not good out here!" the agent explained. "Don't worry! Listen, you have new orders – you need to fly Jack Bauer back to DC immediately!" Robinson practically yelled over the sound of the helicopter rotors and the thundering rain. Only the agent looked like he hadn't heard those orders. "What new orders? We haven't been told of this, we were told to refuel as soon as we landed!" he insisted. Robinson frowned. "I'm telling you, you have new orders! Forget the refuel, you have to fly Jack back to the city centre. IMMEDIATELY!" he countered.

The agent would have replied, but one of the pilots opened up a slot within the windscreen and shouted towards him. "SIR! We have new orders, literally just got them from the President; we have to fly back to DC right away!" the pilot explained. The agent frowned as the rain battered against him. "How are you two for fuel?" he shouted back. "We just have enough – enough to fly back to the DC city centre and then to the Navy Yard!" the second pilot replied, shouting through the open door of the chopper. The agent mulled it over. "Alright – I'm not happy at only just getting the orders but if they're from the President, that's fine! Climb aboard" he reasoned. Belcheck raced forward without a second thought, pushing the agent out of the way, but then he stopped as he noticed Jack wasn't with him. He turned around to see the former CTU agent speaking with Commander Robinson. "JACK! Come on!" he shouted. Jack looked up at him and signalled that he would be a couple of seconds. "Commander.. thank you for what you've done" he said, shaking the hand of Robinson. "Don't worry, Jack, You just find Benediktov and soon!" the Commander insisted. Jack nodded and moved towards the helicopter. "Jack!" a voice called and he turned around to see Robinson. "Give him hell" he hissed, indicating the him to be the Russian General. Jack nodded once again and headed back into the helicopter.

"Alright, get us airborne! We haven't a moment to lose" he declared before he had even stepped foot on the chopper. The pilots looked back at Jack and then towards the agent, who was in the middle of climbing aboard. "Do what he says!" the agent insisted as he began to close the door. Without wasting a second, the pilots began to move the helicopter back into the air. Whilst it was tricky as the rotors were not quite at proper speed and then there was the factor of the rain, the crew of 5 finally became airborne. The helicopter began to move away from the remains of the blockade and into the dark clouds. Robinson watched them disappear through his binoculars. He slowly lowered them. "Good luck, Jack.." he whispered.

–

 **Guardstrom HQ**

"Alright, men – this is the moment we have all been preparing for. We have worked all around the clock to get Project Connaughton air-worthy and that moment is finally here. All I can really say is well done to all of you – now, get back behind me immediately. Clear the launch zone!" Dr Hampson declared before opening up the briefcase that revealed the controls for Project Connaughton.

As the men scrambled into position, some heading into the secure booths within the laboratories and some getting back behind the clearly marked lines. Project Connaughton was pretty big and Dr Hampson did not want any injuries. As the last of the men cleared the marked lines, the Doctor picked up a key and opened up a slot on the side of the controls. "This is it – to Guardstrom!" he shouted. "TO GUARDSTROM!" the men shouted as the key was placed into the slot. The controls came to life and Hampson silently pressed a yellow button. " _Warning, clear the area. Launch sequence in process! Warning, clear the area.._ " a female voice called as various cables were released from the super-weapon.. and the floor directly underneath Project Connaughton began to lower into the ground. Turning on a small TV next to the controls, Hampson watched grimly as the super-weapon was lowered onto a large platform with tens if not hundreds of wheels underneath.

As soon as the weapon touched the platform, the floor that had been lowered down was slowly replaced by a large panel that looked exactly the same as what it had looked like. Watching the TV further, Hampson pressed down on a button next to the TV. Slowly but surely, the platform began to move into a large tunnel. As the super-weapon rolled out of sight, Hampson returned the controls to its briefcase. "Fremaux!" he called over a fellow operative, a young woman with glasses and blonde hair going down to her shoulders. She had just come down from the upper levels of the building. "Sir?" the operative asked, saluting as she came to a stop in front of her. "Here, take this briefcase. Give it to one of President Walkman's aides. She needs to get the controls as soon as possible" Hampson ordered, closing the briefcase and handing it over. "Yes, sir!" Fremaux replied, taking the briefcase and walking off back towards the lift from the upper levels. Watching her leave, Hampson turned back towards the TV.

At the speed the platform was going at, he was pretty sure that Project Connaughton would be airborne before the hour was out.

07:13:21AM

–

07:17:59AM

 **Guardstrom HQ**

Just outside the underground levels of the HQ and in the ghost tunnels, the convoy of vehicles that Henderson had stowed away on were waiting behind a large wall panel. Underneath the front vehicle, Henderson was clinging on for dear life. He was very nearly within the HQ itself, he could just tell.

Finally, the wall panel began to open. From looking forward, Henderson could see a black wall one second and then trickles and streams of light seeping in the next. Slowly, the vehicle he was under began to move forward towards the lights. Second by second, he was edging closer and closer towards the HQ – and finally, the area surrounding the vehicle was completely covered in lights. Waiting until the vehicle had stopped fully, Henderson fist-pumped the air. He had finally made it. Hours after his near-death experience in trying to get what he thought were the controls for Project Connaughton, he was most likely in the very building that the super-weapon itself was in.

As soon as the van had stopped, Henderson dropped down onto the ground and waited patiently for the operatives onboard the vans in the convoy to vanish. Looking out from under the van, he watched several pairs of legs walking away. And he rolled out into the light, jumping to his feet as soon as he was clear. He moved to behind the van and looked around as best as he could. It wasn't just the vans that were part of the convoy in the area, there were multiple vans – all blacked-out and all exactly the same. Henderson was intrigued. It was quite possible that Walkman had called for all of the vans to return to the HQ, but why exactly? If she wanted all of her operatives within the HQ, that could only mean that she was launching her final gambit. The super-weapon! She had to be getting it right for launch, which meant that the controls were literally within sight. Looking both left and right within the area, he spotted a lift shaft to his right and quickly raced towards it. Pressing the big button on the panel, he immediately moved to the left and pushed his back up against the wall, unsure if operatives would be emerging when it arrived.

Finally, the elevator came and made itself known with the sound of the doors opening. Waiting 5 seconds for operatives to emerge, he heard nothing and peered into the elevator. It was empty. Moving inside, he looked towards the panel that gave options for where to go in the complex. Unsure at where to go, he opted to just go for the first option available to him. The floor immediately above him. The doors closed and he patiently waited, unsure of what the floor would bring him – the seconds ticked by and the nerves that Henderson was experiencing were unlike anything he had ever felt before. He was within the belly of the beast. Finally, the doors opened and emerged into a large facility with what appeared to be a viewing platform. Walking towards the viewing platform, he peered down and scanned the area below. He could see what looked like a laboratory, with various operatives scattered around the area – but what caught his attention were what looked like large cables coming down from the ceiling.

He would have examined them more, but he heard footsteps behind him. And they were getting louder. He quickly moved to the side and out of immediate sight, pushing himself back up against the wall – and watched as an operative walked onto the platform. Without wasting a second, Henderson lunged at the operative. Quickly getting the upper hand, he grabbed the operative's head and slammed it smack into the floor. Looking around once more to make sure no-one else was coming towards the viewing platform, Henderson pulled the operative onto his back. He scanned the ID badge. It simply read "Technician". Technician? This could have been someone who worked on the super-weapon! An opportunity to infiltrate the laboratory and find Project Connaughton had been handed to him, gift-wrapped and with a bow-tie as well. Henderson was not going to let this chance pass up. He immediately pulled off the operative's jacket and took both his glasses and his ID badge, before pulling the body off to the side. Re-composing himself, he put on the glasses and left the platform in search of either another lift or some stairs to the laboratory.

In another wing of the Guardstrom complex, meanwhile, a nervous-looking Mack was walking down with Heather, who was being escorted by several Guardstrom operatives through the hallways of the building. Mack had resisted every effort to explain to Heather just what was going on, opting to lead President Walkman explain the situation. This had not set well with Heather, as her condition combined with hearing the alarms for red alert and the fact that she had to be escorted through the building had led to her growing scared for not just her own safety but also that of her mother. Was it related to what her mother had been working on?

Suddenly, a set of doors on the right opened and from them emerged both Evans and Walkman. "MOM!" Heather cried and she immediately moved towards the Guardstrom President. Walkman sighed in relief as she saw her daughter, immediately opening her arms out for a hug. As the two embraced, the Guardstrom President peered up at Mack. "I thought you would be at the meet point by now!" she stated unhappily. "We would have, but Heather wouldn't leave at first unless you were with her. It's taken all of my willpower to not tell her why we're moving" the bespectacled young man reasoned. Heather looked up slightly at her mother. "Mom, what's going on? Why did Mack say we have to evacuate?" she almost cried, desperate to know the truth. Walkman sighed. "Well.. to tell you the truth, sweetie, it's not safe here in DC any-more. We have to leave straight away" she said. "Why isn't it safe? Is it the weather or something?" Heather replied, the worry in her tone of voice still clear. "No, no.. it's nothing like that. It's... someone I used to work with. We didn't leave on the best of terms and now this person is making threats against me. That's why we need to go" the Guardstrom President replied, almost half-lying but still having some truth in what she was saying.

But this seemed to convince Heather. "So where are we going?" she asked. "For now, we're just going into protection. Evans is going to try and nullify this person threatening me; if not, a private plane is waiting to take us away from the city" Walkman replied, as two operatives pulled open a set of double doors – which led to what appeared to be a waiting convoy. There were two vans and two cars with gun turrets on the top surrounding a single blacked-out limo. "Heather, go ahead and get in the limo. I'll be with you in a second" Walkman ordered her daughter softly. Heather looked up at her mother with a look of worry before slowly walking towards the open limo door. Walkman turned to Evans. "Whatever you do, Chris.. stop Benediktov! If he finds us, there's no telling what he could do!" she ordered, elements of fear creeping into her voice as she finished. "Of course, Madame President. I don't care what we have to do, we won't rest until he's dead" Evans assured her, pulling her into an embrace in the process. Walkman gave a slight smile at that. "You know.. looks like I made the right choice appointing you as my right-hand man. Your father would be so proud of you" she replied.

"Madame President!" the two were interrupted by Mack and they turned to see the young man looking at them. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I have to go – one of Dr Hampson's operatives contacted me, she wants me to pick up the controls for Project Connaughton" he explained. Walkman nodded. "Go right ahead. Bring the controls right here as soon as you get them" she ordered. Mack nodded before heading back up the steps towards the double doors. "Go over the plans once more, just so you know" Walkman said quietly. "The convoy departs in a few minutes and down the main tunnel. You wait there until 07-35, enough time for the controls to Project Connaughton to be given to you. If it becomes clear there is a direct or indirect threat to you, the convoy heads through the tunnels to the airport and you get out of the city without so much as a bruise" Evans replied calmly.

Walkman smiled, her first proper smile in quite a while. "Good. Well, I'll leave the HQ in your capable hands" she said, as she headed towards the limo. Evans watched, before there was a sudden ringing. His phone. He headed up the steps towards the double doors.

–

 **Rurruthers Car Park**

Peering left, right and straight ahead to make sure that no-one was watching him, Benediktov turned the steering wheel sharply to the left and drove into the car park. Quickly peering down at the map, left open on the book on the passenger seat, he started to locate the cashpoint as shown in the photos on the map. Spotting the cashpoint, he turned the steering wheel right and parked in the spot, turning off the engine and putting the gear-stick into neutral. "You have reached your final destination; please wait whilst the proper authorities confirm your identification" the navigation system's voice declared and Benediktov could only raise an eyebrow. Confirm your identification? How were they going to do that?

" _Unit 39G, This is Guardstrom Communications. Please respond, over_ " a voice suddenly spoke out over the radio and Benediktov started to slightly panic. How the heck was he going to do this? They'd know for sure it was him if he directly responded. He had to act fast and quickly threw open the driver-side door of the van, the sound of the rain becoming louder as a result. Grabbing the radio, he pointed it in the direction of the rain and responded. "Guardstrom Communications, this... Unit... 9G, over. Sorry for.. reply, weather... havoc" he spoke, trying his best to incorporate an American accent and then using the rain almost as a form of static to make it act as if the radio was cutting out – when in fact, he was merely cutting out certain words to help fool the Communications sector. " _Unit 39G, are you ok? You keep cutting out, over_ " the voice replied, elements of concern making themselves known. "Yes, we're ok. Repeat, weather causing havoc" Benediktov replied, dropping the idea of cutting out certain words to fool Communications and instead just hoping that they didn't notice the attempt to cover up a Russian accent.

" _Very well, 39G. You are cleared for entry. Please remain in the vehicle and wait until we say otherwise_ " the voice ordered before cutting out. Closing the door, Benediktov waited patiently. Until out of the blue, the van started to go down into the ground. The tarmac of the spot itself was being lowered downwards. Grabbing hold of the steering wheel, Benediktov realized that this was it; the ghost tunnel! It was now right in front of him as opposed to being below him. This was it. He grabbed a hold of his own radio. "Clarke, come in! This is urgent, over!" he yelled into it.

–

 **Guardstrom HQ**

Not far off from the car park, meanwhile, the tanker came to a stop. Peering through the windscreen even as the rain smashed against it, Cannavale could see the main entry-point for the HQ. Slowly moving the tanker forward a few feet, he began to position the tanker into place. All he had to do was wait for Benediktov's call and then do what he needed to do.

" _I repeat – Clarke, come in! This is urgent, over!_ " Benediktov repeated himself. Wasting no time, Cannavale picked up the radio that the General had given him. "This is Clarke. Are you inside, General?" the mercenary replied. " _Not quite yet – but_ I am inside the tunnel as those photos on the map showed. Give me a few minutes and I'll tell you when you _need to do what you need to do! Just sit tight_ " the Russian explained. "Right.." Cannavale agreed as he put the radio back. All he could do was wait. The Russian had to time everything perfectly – and if anything, his hopes of launching a surprise attack on Guardstrom HQ depended very much on the timed actions of Cannavale.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

The rain battered against the outer hull of the helicopter as it raced across the water towards the East Coast. " _So what time can we expect you, Jack?_ " Novick asked over the radio. "At present, Mr President.. we expect to be over the DC city centre before 08:00 hours" the former agent confirmed, as he stood between the two pilots clutching the radio. " _Before 08:00 hours?_ Jack, with respect, surely you should be aiming to get her a lot quicker!" the Acting President pointed out, confused as to why it would take longer time for Jack to arrive in DC than it did for Benediktov to do the same an hour ago. " _We would, sir.. but as it is, the helicopter's running_ on fumes. We only have enough fuel to fly towards the Navy Yard at the speed we're at – we try and push this thing any more, we'll end up crashing somewhere over Delaware!" the second pilot replied, Jack pointing the radio towards him so that he could talk.

"Look, sir.. _I appreciate we need to be in the city sooner but the level of fuel the helicopter has plus the weather conditions,_ I don't think we can afford to risk anything" Jack attempted to reason. He knew that time was of the essence but there really wasn't any point in trying to rush things as the helicopter could still crash on the way to DC and then it would be even harder to try and stop Benediktov. " _No.. you're right, Jack._ Would rather you got here in one piece as opposed to anything" Novick admitted, looking across at Kim and Chloe in the process. "I've got Kim here, Jack. Do you wanna talk to her?" he suddenly added, which sent Kim's eyebrows in surprise. Jack resisted the urge to chuckle. "Yeah, put here on!" he decided. At that, Novick picked up the phone receiver and turned off the speaker button so that Kim could talk with her father in private. "Go right ahead" he said, handing the phone to Kim who eagerly took it. "Dad..." she said in huge relief. To hear he was alive had been amazing news. "Hiya, sweetheart. How you holding up?" Jack replied, smiling at hearing his daughter's voice. " _I'm doing good – Mike let me stay in the bunker,_ been helping Chloe as good as I can" Kim explained, looking over at Novick who had gone over to the door and was talking with Agent Yanes.

" _Good to hear! I didn't get a chance to say,_ I'm sorry for going off like that.." Jack replied, heavily indicating about his going off with Belcheck in the helicopter to confront the Yuri Dolgorukiy. " _It's ok! Honestly, I get why you did it, we need to stop Benediktov_ – but.. I think for Teri's case, you need to stop putting yourself in such danger like that!" Kim insisted, her tone of voice going soft as she spoke. Jack frowned? Teri? And then he realized, just as his daughter started to explain. " _You heard me correctly;_ I've been in touch with one of your friends, an Agent Aaron Pierce. At present, he's en-route to DC with Stephen and the children.." she replied, smiling as she spoke. She knew just how delighted her father would be at the mere mention of her kids and her husband. Jack adored Teri just as he had adored his wife. But to her surprise, Jack didn't react the way she hoped he would. " _They're headed to DC? Kim.._ when are they due? It's not safe!" the former agent frowned. He was thrilled that Aaron Pierce was driving them to DC and that they were in safe hands but not that they were coming to DC right now. " _Dad, it's okay! Agent Pierce_ gave me his word, he'll keep them safe! If needs-be, he'll stop on the outskirts of DC and go into hiding until otherwise" Kim responded. Jack still wasn't happy but then again, he did trust Pierce a lot. He was confident he would do whatever it would take to keep them safe.

"Alright, alright.. _that's fine.. listen, Kim, could I talk to Novick again please?_ " he responded – only Kim wasn't listening. She was looking back towards Novick and Yanes – she had just-about heard some portions of their conversations and a few words had come up that had made her frown. Namely military checkpoints and safety. " _Kim? Kim, are you there?!_ " Jack shouted into the receiver, snapping his daughter back into it. "Sorry, Dad.. it's just.. I heard President Novick talking. Something along the lines of.. _military checkpoints going up in the city centre_ " she admitted. Jack frowned and then it hit him. Military checkpoints. This had shades of Charles Logan during the Sentox conspiracy all over again. "Kim, put me back on with the President!" he ordered, Belcheck watching curiously. Something was amiss, he could tell. "Mr President!" Kim called and Novick looked up to see her holding the phone out. "My dad wants to talk to you again" she explained and the Acting President nodded, walking over to her and holding his hand out to take the receiver. "What's up, Jack?" he asked as he put the receiver next to his ear. " _I just need to clear something up that Kim heard:_ something involving you giving the order for military checkpoints to go up in the city centre?!" Jack responded angrily, his choice of words taking Belcheck by surprise. Why would checkpoints need to go up in the city centre?

" _Aaahh.._ well, I was going to tell you, Jack. If anything else, we'll need the checkpoints in order to catch Benediktov by surprise!" Novick said uneasily, holding even the slightest possibility that Jack would be convinced. He was wrong. " _CAUGHT BY.. with respect, sir, I could give you several reasons why that wouldn't work!_ Benediktov is far too clever, he is not going to be fooled by a series of checkpoints! And secondly, you're putting up checkpoints in a city that has been hit by attacks in just the space of a few hours? _It didn't work when we were battling Christopher Henderson and President Logan and it's not going to help here! If anything, you're gonna cause widespread panic!_ " Jack practically hissed over the phone. Novick gritted his teeth. He could see Jack's reasoning but they had no choice. "I understand your feelings over it, Jack.. _but as Acting President, my decision stands. We need to take every chance as they come!_ " he replied. Jack gritted his teeth and sighed through them. He wanted to respect Novick as an Interim President but this was one decision he could not agree with in the slightest. When it became clear the former agent was not going to respond, the Acting President came up with an idea. " _If you're worried you're gonna be slowed down by these checkpoints in looking for Benediktov, don't._ I've got a General in the US Army who can inform those manning the checkpoints to let you through without stopping" he proposed. He knew it was weak but he didn't want to fall out with Jack.

"Alright.. alright, that's fine. If something happens, Mike.. keep me posted" the former agent said calmly. " _I will, Jack._ You just get back here safely" Novick responded before hanging up. He sighed and shook his head. He knew that the checkpoints were not going to be popular but he had to do something to keep everyone in the city safe. Sometimes the options that were not so popular were the ones that kept people safe.

–

07:24:45AM

 **Guardstrom HQ**

Within the ghost tunnels, the blacked-out van being driven by Benediktov was making its way downwards through the darkness. The Russian couldn't be that far from the main complex or one of the buildings on site, surely. But it appeared that going on this path had given the navigation system a mind of its own as it suddenly turned on without the Russian even touching it. "Continue through the tunnels for two minutes, then disembark and await further instructions" the voice ordered, though in a gruff male voice as opposed to the female voice he had gotten accustomed to. Whilst this had taken Benediktov by surprise, it meant that he was incredibly close. But again, he had to make sure the timing was exact. If Cannavale had positioned the tanker in the right place, then it meant that he would have to enter the complex at approximately the same time as the tanker crashed into it overground.

He quickly kept an eye on the clock. 07:25:30. He would give it another 30 seconds before speaking with Cannavale. He slightly pushed down on the accelerator and the van picked up speed ever so slightly. Finally, he grabbed his portable radio. "Clarke, this is Benediktov. You are a-go! _Good luck_ " he spoke into it, the end of it clearly being heard by Cannavale. The mercenary tightened his grip on the steering wheel. This was it. He threw the tanker's control stick into first gear and pushed down on the accelerator. The tanker began to roll forward, gradually picking up speed towards the main building. 15MPH. 20MPH. 25MPH. The front of the building was drawing closer and closer, as Cannavale kept his foot on the accelerator and went up into second gear, into third gear and finally fourth. 35MPH. The building was now literally 15 seconds away. Timing it perfectly, Cannavale kicked the driver-side door open and the left-hand side of his face was meant with drops of rain smashing into it.

Finally, grabbing a hold of a round plastic device, he jumped out. Landing directly on his feet, he rolled onto his knees and away from the tanker. Inside the building, within the main entrance area, an operative looked out at the pouring rain. And stopped. She could hear a rumbling sound like something coming towards the building – and from out of nowhere, the tanker appeared. At the speed it was going, nothing could stop it. Realizing too late what it was, the operative dived out of the way as the tanker smashed into the main entrance and towards the front desk, crashing through it and coming to a stop only because of a large pillar standing in its way – the pillar smashing the driver's cab in the process. Throughout the surrounding area and on the first to fourth floors, everything stopped. Everyone had heard the crash and the sound of the general alarm going off, including Evans who was on his way back to Walkman's office and then Walkman herself. As the sound of the general alarm alongside the sound of the red alert became clear to him, he immediately grabbed his phone and dialled a number, racing towards a hallway going left. Whatever that crash was, it did not sound good at all.

Outside in the rain, Cannavale struggled to his feet. The impact of landing had left him winded but not to the point where he couldn't move. As he got to his feet, he peered at where the tanker stood now. He could just make out the back of it through the smoke, the very back wheels and the fuel tank above it exposed to the elements. He looked at the plastic device and sighed. This was it, now or never. Everything that he and Benediktov had pinned their hopes on, it all depended on this single moment. He pressed down on the big yellow button. Inside the main entrance, the same operative who had been first to spot the tanker coming towards the building hauled herself onto the cab and pulled open the passenger-side door. The first thing she saw on the seat was what looked like broken glass from the windscreen – and a large block-shaped product. Plastic explosive that had connecting wires to what looked like a detonator. The operative's eyes widened in horror. "CLEAR THE BUILDING! CLEAR THE...!" she yelled before the detonator itself exploded.

One moment, Cannavale could see the back of the tanker exposed to the elements of the storm – but within mere seconds, the tanker vanished. Replaced by a massive explosion with shockwaves so powerful that they sent the mercenary flying backwards even though he was quite a short distance away. He immediately shielded his eyes from the intensity of the blast as the explosion ripped through the main building of the headquarters.

Inside, glass shattered and walls collapsed under the strength of the fire and shockwaves. Operatives were sent flying or instantly killed as the explosion just ripped through the floors of the building, leaving a trail of destruction where-ever the shockwaves went. But the operatives that had been sent flying didn't know that they were the lucky ones – they at least survived but had to watch in horror as the floors caved in on each other, slowly collapsing onto each other and then stopping within the main entrance or at least what was left of it. What's more, shorter but quicker explosions followed from certain rooms, rooms that had been filled with ammunition and explosives. Deeper into the building, Evans stopped as he heard the first big bang – turning around, his eyes widened as he was completely blown backwards by a shockwave. Even though he couldn't see it, he could hear the walls collapsing or exploding before pieces of ceiling began to land all around him. He could hear the screams but could not do anything to try and help them. As for Mack, a shockwave had completely blown a piece of wall right on top of him – whilst Fremaux, who had been in the middle of giving the controls for Project Connaughton to the young man, was nowhere to be seen. It had been hard for him to see what was going on around him without his glasses on, but he could see that the floor area where Fremaux had been had completely collapsed. She could not have survived that.

As the first major explosion died down, several smaller ones started to pop up all over the main building – all while the surviving operatives started to get to their feet. Many were injured with some burnt and others very badly burnt. Guardstrom HQ had just been attacked from out of nowhere. And it could not have been any better timed for Benediktov, who made his way out of the ghost tunnel and into the complex proper. And just in time to see a massive fireball completely rip through a passageway, sending a unit of operatives flying. "Nicely done, Clarke!" he said to himself as he sharply braked. Climbing out, he grabbed a hold of his gun and walked towards the group of operatives. One looked up at the Russian and frowned. "Who the devil are..?" he started to shout only to be immediately silenced by a knife in the mouth. The other operatives, realizing what was happening, lunged at Benediktov but the General was no match for any of them – one had his neck snapped whilst the other suffered a gunshot to the gut and the other was sent head-first into the wall with such velocity that there's no way he would have survived. Peering backwards, he suddenly remembered what was in the van and walked towards it, opening the doors and grabbing the array of different guns and weapons. He was going to need them, that was for sure.

He walked back towards the open door to the passageway where the fireball had been, being careful as he walked inside. The interior was a complete wreck, with bits of rubble strewn everywhere and fire burning in different parts of the hallway. The lights had completely failed, with only the fire lighting up the long hallway. The Russian slowly walked through the hallway, ignoring the option of the elevator and instead throwing a grenade at it. He could easily feel the shockwaves on his back, but he just kept walking. What he didn't know, however, was that outside the passageway, the operative that he had shot in the gut was still alive. Only just barely but still alive. He slowly moved to pick up his radio, his arm shaking as he did. "This is.. this is.. Agent Power of.. Unit 56V... sending warnings to all Guardstrom operatives. He's here – Benediktov is in the building! Be on guard..." he was able to get out before he dropped the radio. His arm lay still and blood began to pour out of his mouth.

At what was the other end of the complex, near the convoy carrying Walkman, agents were scrambling about. Walkman was getting anxious as she saw operatives clearly panicking and trying their best to make contact with someone. "Giles, what's going on?" she asked the driver through the intercom. "We're not sure yet, Madame President. But we think there's been some kind of explosion in the main building. Just sit tight" he replied, his voice indicating he wasn't so sure himself.

Meanwhile in another part of the complex and in the laboratories, the operatives working under Hampson were scrambling desperately. They had heard the massive explosion and were fearing the worst, with the lights having failed as well not helping matters. "Alright, alright! Everyone calm down! Yes, we heard an explosion but we have a job to do!" Hampson yelled over the desperate cries and shouts of his operatives. As soon as he knew he had everyone's attention, he restarted. "We all know what we have to do; no matter what happens, we have to protect President Walkman. We've done the hard part, we've battled against the clock and finished Project Connaughton. Now, it's our job to defend that work and kill the enemy!" he declared, his battle cry praised by a series of cheers. Suddenly, a fireball ripped through the glass windows near the ceiling in the laboratories – the glass shards made their way downwards towards the ground and the operatives, some shielding their eyes from the shards. But this didn't deter Hampson. "Now, let's grab arms and fight for our country!" he finished as he revealed a small handgun from within his jacket and shot upwards towards the ceiling.

His battle cry had appeared to rally the operatives as they were now opening up lockers and pulling out a variety of weapons – grenades, guns, bullets, rocket launchers, knifes, various kinds of weapons. Having collected their weapons, a group of operatives began to make their way up the staircase and towards the overground floors, determined to face the enemy head on. But as they charged upstairs, they headed past a disguised Henderson. He had heard the explosions and quickly came to the conclusion that they were of the work of Benediktov, which was exactly what he hoped would be the case. Whilst Benediktov and Walkman were busy fighting each other, he can sneak in and take the controls for the super-weapon essentially unnoticed. But first he had to find them. Peering into the laboratory proper, he could see the various operatives leaving in groups; they had collected their weapons and they were now headed up onto the overground levels to join the fight. As another group walked past him up the stairs, Hampson peered up and spotted him. "Hey, you! Are you just gonna stand there? Pull up a weapon for Christ's sake!" he yelled, as he returned to loading bullets into a machine gun.

Internally delighted by the order, Henderson raced up towards an open locker and pulled out a rocket launcher, complete with the rocket locked into place. It could be used there and then. And Henderson decided to use it there and then. He peered around the area, trying to figure out what would be best to hit. Finally, he found this target – pointing the launcher upwards, he fired directly at a large collection of weapons that happened to be positioned right next to a group of operatives. The resulting explosion and the closeness and proximity meant that the group just stood no chance. But it did manage to take Hampson by utter surprise, enabling Henderson to pick up another weapon in the shape of a katana and just ruthlessly slice his way through the operatives surrounding the doctor, until the tip of the katana was right up against Hampson's throat. "I have but one question and do not try to play dumb – WHERE are the controls to Project Connaughton?!" Henderson snarled as he saw the fear gradually increase within the doctor's eyes. He could tell Hampson was trying his best to not say anything but eventually, fear won out. "They're with another operative! She went to go give them to one of Walkman's aides!" he cried, his focus not for one second looking away from the katana. "Which aide?" Henderson continued, knowing that the Guardstrom President had more than one. "The.. the young one. With glasses, he's somewhere towards the front.. IF he survived!" the doctor spluttered.

Henderson smiled, removing the katana – and then swinging it with force into Hampson's neck, the doctor's head just falling to the side and away whilst the headless body collapsed to the floor. Back into the main building, it is then. As he headed back towards the stairs, another fireball ripped through the top of the area though this time, it was through the observation platform. He would have to work quickly or else pay with his life.

Back towards the convoy, the motorcade was finally on the move as the vehicles headed into the ghost tunnel. "Alright, alright, thank you. I'll let her know" Giles the driver said as he spoke into a phone that was held by the agent sitting next to him. As he indicated to her to close the phone, he activated the intercom. "Madame President!" he said, attracting the attention of Walkman who was in the middle of trying to comfort a troubled Heather. Walkman pressed down on her own intercom button. "What's going on, Giles?" she asked. "It's not good, I'm afraid, Ma'am. Those explosions we heard? Someone's attacked the complex. From what I can gather, someone smashed a fuel tanker into the main entrance – that's what that massive explosion was" Giles admitted. Walkman pushed herself back up against her seat in shock. It was true, someone had attacked them. Most likely Henderson or Benediktov. And if they weren't careful, either one of them or even both of them would be coming straight after her.

"How soon until we're out of here?" she asked. "We have the safety checkpoint up ahead; once we're clear of that, you'll be just fine!" the driver replied, trying to remain cheerful. Finally, the checkpoint came up; how it worked was that any vehicles entering or leaving through this tunnel would be monitored by the security footage system. Operatives watching the system would have to key in an access code to disable the checkpoint until such a time that the vehicles had passed. What Walkman didn't realize, however, was that the area of the complex in which all this was done had been one of the first hit by the explosion. Everyone inside was dead and there was no-one left to let her pass through safely.

In essence, Walkman was trapped and her only salvation was that neither one of Benediktov or Henderson likely knew where she was.

07:28:52AM

–

07:33:07AM

 **Guardstrom HQ**

Up in the higher floors of the HQ, the operatives that had been taken completely and utterly by surprise by the tanker explosion were starting to pull themselves together. Some were clearing rubble off the floor and helping other operatives that had been trapped underneath whilst two were trying all they can to fight the raging fires, all whilst the general alarm that had gone off when the tanker crash as well as the red alert blared around them. "Sir!" a female voice called and a senior operative turned around to see a younger operative coming up towards him, saluting. "At ease, Vickins. Report!" the older man barked. "I've checked the surrounding areas, some of them are holding for now, but..." Vickins explained, her voice becoming uneasy as she finished. The older man rose an eyebrow. "But? What's happened?" he said sternly.

"The whole front of the building.. it's gone. Nothing's left. As far as the first perimeter for the Northern Wing goes, up to there is still standing – but after that.. nothing. It's just gone.." Vickins admitted, as everyone around her stopped and looked at her, shocked expressions on their faces. The older agent turned his body around and away from Vickins. The explosion had utterly ripped apart the Northern Wing of the main building. "If the Northern Wing's gone, then we have to assume the building is unstable" he suddenly declared, looking up and turning back around. "We have to move, find some way down to the lower levels. Vickins, did you see any staircases that would be stable enough to take all us?" he continued, turning towards the younger agent. He knew that the staircases near the first perimeter were certainly stable enough to hold them all, but they also had to assume the explosion had weakened them in some capacity. "Quite a few, yes – but we need to avoid the ones on the right side of the Wing. They were the ones closer to the rooms with the Ammunition" the female operative explained and the expression on the older man's face fell. That would at least explain the further explosions coming from those rooms but it was still a blow to lose the ammunition and explosives.

"Alright, let's move. Pick up what you can or help those who need it..." he decided but before he could finish, there was a massive bang right behind him and he was nearly blown off his feet into Vickins. Looking back at the bang, he could see the fire and smoke firing down. But then there was another bang, which took out the wall on the left and another bang that took out the wall on the right. And then what followed, no-one was expecting. It was someone whistling the Russian national anthem. Grabbing a hold of their guns, Vickins and her superior immediately raised them, pointing them all around them. The whistling slowly got louder and louder, as though the person whistling the anthem was getting closer and closer, except they had no idea on the angle that he or she was coming from. Everyone looked desperately around where they were standing, but no figures appeared. Until..

From out of nowhere, the wall to their left immediately caved in with a loud bang as though a grenade had hit it – as the two moved back to avoid the falling rubble, that's when the whistler struck. From out of the shadows, a dark figure emerged and immediately began firing at anyone within target range, successfully hitting two injured operatives and killing them. Vickins and the older agent began firing back, but were simply unable to hit the figure; for some unknown reason, their bullets were just bouncing off of his body. And before they could reload, he lunged right at them and threw them to the ground. Without wasting a second, the other operatives still alive moved in to help them. But they quickly found that they were no match for the figure – some were smashed in the face with the butt of a gun, some were simply thrown through weakened parts of a wall which smashed on impact, one even had a grenade shoved into his mouth and thrown backwards before being shot at; everyone else still standing was thrown off their felt by the resulting explosion. Another operative was pushed directly into a rusty pipe that had been blown outwards, another had their neck snapped and one had the unfortunate fate of having a knife forced into her skull.

The figure moved forward and looked back at his handiwork – despite his age and being vastly outnumbered, General Benediktov had just taken on approximately 10 to 20 Guardstrom operatives and defeated nearly every single one of them without taking any injury. He noticed something in the corner of his right eye and looked down. A single young female operative who had been lucky to survive considering what had happened. The General moved his arm down and grabbed the women by her long red hair, ignoring her sharp yelping as he dragged her to her feet. He pushed her up against the wall and looked into her eyes with a cold and angry expression. "Where can I find Walkman?" he said coldly. The woman started to whimper, refusing to answer. "I SAID... Where. Can I. Find Walkman?!" he snarled, the sounds of the two alarms still blaring in the background. But then he realized she was trying to speak. "She's.. not.. I'll take... you to her... office. Just don't kill me!" she finally got out. Benediktov rose an eyebrow but agreed. "Very well, young lady. Please, lead the way" he said calmly, releasing his hand and letting go of her hair. The woman, trying her best not to show that she was clearly scared of being in the Russian's presence, walked past him and indicated for him to follow her which he did.

In another part of the building, Henderson was also making his way through the wrecked hallways – and much like Benediktov, he was also getting rid of any operatives he came across with ease. Some of them were already dying or in retreat or just trying to find off the figure so that they could try and protect their President, but all were swiftly dealt with in one swing of the katana that Henderson had taken from the laboratories. But each time, he had also taken the time to check the bodies of those he had killed in the hopes of locating the controls for Project Connaughton. Since Hampson, before his death, had said that the controls were either with the doctor's female operative or Walkman's younger aide, he had to check every single operative he killed as they could be the younger aide or even the female operative and they could have in possession of the controls.

He swung the katana at another operative and watched as she fell to the ground, dead instantly. He looked all over her body but could not find the controls. He would have to go deeper into the building, closer to the front than he really would have wanted to be – but if that's where the controls were, then so be it. As he walked through the crumbling hallways, he quickly dodged out of the way of falling rumble and jumped over a large hole in the floor where an even larger chunk of ceiling had come down. Suddenly, he stopped. Over the sound of the alarms blaring, he thought he could hear someone shouting desperately for help. He immediately headed in the direction of where the shouting was coming from, not so that he could help, but so that he could check if the controls for the super-weapon were there. As for where the shouting was coming from, they happened to be coming from the room where Mack was trapped. He was desperately trying to lift the piece of wall off of him – but without help, it was almost impossible.

But then, as he continued to shout for help, he spotted something on the other side of the large hole where he thought Fremaux had fallen through. A piece of rubble slid down and fell into the hole, the fire at the bottom immediately growing bigger as a result – and the young man realized that there was someone there on the other side of the hole. Fremaux. Against all odds, she had survived. But much like Mack, she was trapped. "Help! Somebody, is anyone there?" he shouted desperately – just as Henderson walked through the doorway and into the room. He surveyed essentially what was left of the area before looking down at the trapped Mack. "Oh boy, you Guardstrom people have really outdone yourselves now, haven't you?" he teased, swinging the katana around almost aimlessly. "Please.. please just.. help me – help her, please!" Mack begged, again trying and failing to lift the the wall off of him. Surveying the area behind him and spotting Fremaux, realizing why Mack had said "her" and not just "me", he knelt down. "You know what? Ok, I will help you. But I need something in return" he offered. "Just say it!" the young man insisted, his attention less on the fact his life was practically being bargained with and more on trying to lift up the wall.

"I'm.. looking for a set of controls. Hand-held, apparently able to fit inside a single briefcase. Do you have any idea where they might be?" Henderson asked, his tone of voice almost joyful as he spoke. Mack knew very much what the mysterious man was talking about and normally he would have just straight-up lied to keep them out of enemy hands. But at present, he wasn't really in a position to bargain. "They're.. they're right behind you. Over there, near the hole!" he cracked, trying to point towards the west of the hole. Following his arm, Henderson scanned the west side of the room and smiled. For there they were, the controls to Project Connaughton – still in the briefcase and still pretty much intact. "Excellent" he said smugly as he walked around the edge of the hole and got onto his right knee, leaning across to pick up the briefcase. Checking to make sure nothing could have been damaged in the explosion, he locked the latches and stood back up, walking away from the hole and back towards Mack. "Well son, I'll give you this. You kept your promise, you didn't lie. For that, I'll help you and your little lady friend" he said, as he put the katana blade under the rubble and used it as a sort-of lever to help Mack lift the wall off of him. With the combined strength of both men and the blade, the wall was off the bespectacled young man.

"And now for your lady friend" Henderson added, turning on his heel to assist Fremaux. Again, using the katana as a lever, he was able to help lift the rubble pinning her in place before extending his arm out to help lift her to her feet. In-between coughing and wheezing, she was able to get out a reply. "Thank you... whoever.. you are" she gasped. Henderson smiled. "It's no problem, lovely. In fact, I'm gonna help you further" he said before grabbing a hold of her and chucking her through the hole into the fire at the bottom. As her screams filled the area, Henderson looked down, smiling. "Murderer!" he suddenly heard Mack snarl as his shoulder was grabbed and he was turned around to see the angry young man. However, him turning Henderson around proved to be a fatal mistake as Henderson simply swung the katana into the side of his abdomen and quite close to the bone. Pulling the blade out, he pushed back the young man and watched as blood began pouring out at an incredible rate. "You... you said you'd.." Mack wheezed as he tried to stay calm. "Help save you? Why my young friend, I did save you! You and your little lady friend, you were both dead anyway. I simply sped up the process" he said before grinning and making his way out of the room.

But what neither man knew was that the room still had a functioning security camera – and that they were being watched from the CCTV footage monitors by Cannavale. It had been a struggle for the mercenary to actually get into the main building after the explosion and to find a stable enough path that didn't look like it was going to collapse at any given moment, but none the less he had found it and he was now trying to locate Henderson. He had done as the guy had wanted and now he wanted to know his daughter wouldn't be killed. He had found the monitors and was able to spot Henderson literally just seconds after he had thrown Fremaux to his death so he had no idea that there had been a female operative in the room at that point. Watching Henderson leave, he made a note of where he was and raced out of the monitor room to intercept him. Cannavale had to be careful to make sure the weakened floors didn't give out beneath him as he ran through the wrecked hallways, but that didn't deter him one bit as he jumped over rubble and dodged burning fires on his way to the room where Mack now lay.

Stopping outside of it, he looked desperately to locate Henderson; but to his surprise, he was nowhere to be seen. He looked down all available passageways and hallways but all he could see was rubble, fire and smoke. Peering at Mack, he raced into the room and towards the young man. "Hey! Hey, don't worry. You're ok!" he lied, trying his best to not send the aide into a panic. He knew Mack was pretty much a dead man. "I just have a question for you, mate. That man with the katana, where did he go?" the mercenary asked, hopeful. But the answer got was certainly not what he was either expecting or hoping for. "He... he killed.. He killed her... he killed Vicky, he.. just killed... she didn't... stand chance..." Mack slowly coughed and spluttered out his answer whilst moving his arm upwards to try and point at the hole. But then his arm dropped and blood started to come out of his mouth; he was dead. The shock of everything, including the massive loss of blood, had taken its toll on him. But little did he know, or could he have known, was that his last words would about to have a huge impact on what would happen in not just the next 20 minutes but also the next few hours. Cannavale could not have known that Agent Fremaux's first name was Vicky whilst Mack equally could not have known that the name of Cannavale's daughter was also Vicky.

But now, the mercenary had reason to believe that Henderson had ordered for the sniper targeting his daughter to shoot her. He had gone back on his word and killed his only family. Cannavale looked down at the burning fire at the bottom of the hole – and the fire within him ignited once more as he clenched his fists. He was angry. If it was the last thing he would do, he was going to track down Henderson and kill him. And he knew exactly what he needed to help him with that cause. Walking back into the hallway, he started to make his way towards the Northern Wing. He needed to find Benediktov. But as he made his way north, he came to a halt. Something about what he could see caught his attention as normally, he should have been looking at a brick wall.

But instead, he was looking out through the remains of Northern Wing into the storm hitting the city. The explosion from the tanker had been so powerful that it had ultimately destroyed everything beyond the first perimeter for Northern Wing, there was literally nothing left apart from massive piles of rubble on the ground level and the massive fire still burning. As he saw the dark sky lit up by two successive strikes of lightning, Cannavale shook his head in disgust and went to find Benediktov.

–

 **White House Bunker**

Without stopping to knock, Agent Yanes burst into the main room of the bunker where Novick was in discussion with General Hogan – Chloe and Kim were both close behind him, Chloe clutching her laptop. "Mr President! I'm sorry to interrupt, sir, but you have to see this!" Yanes said, not giving Novick a chance to interrupt. The Acting President looked at Hogan and then back towards Yanes. "Show me" he said grimly, knowing that whatever it was, it wasn't good. Chloe bought the laptop towards the table in front of the sofa and lifted up the screen. On it was a running news report.

" _..so if you're just tuning in right now, we have been getting reports of some kind of massive explosion within the DC area – we're still in the midst of trying to get confirmation but if you look at the footage, you can clearly see the thick smoke lifting into the air. As it stands, we are currently trying to identify the building in general but our on-the-ground team has been denied access by the military, which only adds more questions than answers.._ " a female news report explained, to back-drops of live footage of the Guardstrom Complex completely ablaze. Novick's eyes shot up. "When was this? WHY DID NO ONE HEAR IT?!" he snapped, as Hogan watched in amazement. "Just over 10 minutes ago, sir. I don't know why we didn't hear it, it just happened out of nowhere!" Chloe protested. Novick shook his head. "Any idea on where in the city it happened?" he asked. "We're still trying to figure out but it looks like it's towards the West of the city. As for what building, we're just as in the dark.." Yanes explained. The Acting President was about to reply, but General Hogan was next to cut him off. "Sir! Look!" she pointed at the laptop screen. It had gone back to the reporter. " _And whilst we don't have confirmation as of yet on where the explosion has occurred, but our social media pages have been floated with comments that indicate that the building in general belongs to a drug reproduction company called Guardstrom.._ " she explained further.

But after that, no-one paid any attention to what the reporter was saying. Her mere mention of the word Guardstrom had sent the alarms bell ringing for Chloe, for Yanes and to a lesser extent, Novick as he had been briefed on this just a few hours previously. Hogan was quick to pick up on this. "What's wrong?" she asked. "A few hours ago, I was able to make contact with someone who worked at Guardstrom – it's highly likely it's not a drug reproduction company but rather a military contractor.." Chloe started but then found herself unable to speak. "..a military contractor that's created some kind of weapon. We don't know what exactly, but it's big and it's aerial" Yanes finished, crossing his arms and looking away in worry. Hogan could only scoff in utter disbelief. "Chloe.. were you able to get into their website?" Novick asked, suddenly remembering that the former analyst had been devoting time to trying to hack into Guardstrom's website. Chloe shook her head. "I tried, but then all this came up.." she admitted. "Well then.. have another crack. Kim, try and help" the Acting President said, turning the laptop around to face the former analyst.

Whilst she thought it a lost cause, Chloe knew they had to keep trying until they got something and she was the best they had. Taking the laptop, she immediately set to work and isolated the contractor's website fairly quickly. "Let's see if second time's the charm.." she said to herself as she started typing, Kim watching over her shoulder to spot anything that the analyst might miss. As for Novick, he was the first to notice that the news reporter was still talking. And what she had to say, it almost sent chills down the spine of a man known for integral character and backbone. " _And as we try to uncover more of what's taken place, we still have one question left unanswered – WHERE is the government in all this? We have seen our city attacked not once but three times today, we have had reports of a military blockade in the North Atlantic Ocean being attacked and some vessels SUNK and yet we have had no comment from the White House! What is going on and why is President Heller staying silent?_ " the reporter stated. Novick knew she was right – the White House had remained silent and that wasn't fair on the citizens of not just the city but the whole country. But he was bought out of his thoughts by Chloe, who moved her hands away from the laptop. "It's done... I'm in!" she said, shocked that it had been that easy. Yanes uncrossed his arms in surprise; he knew that Chloe had struggled on the first try to hack into the website and for her to say that she was in after almost no time at it, he wasn't expecting that. In fact, no one was expecting that.

Novick watched as Chloe made a face at the laptop. "The best way we're gonna find out what's going on is to hack the security feed, I'll need a minute tops.." she explained as she started rapidly typing once more. Novick signalled towards Hogan and lent in to whisper. "I'm gonna need you to get the military in, figure out what's going in. Anyone with nearby checkpoints, anyone who happens to be within two miles of the site, I don't care, just get the military in!" he insisted, to which the Army General nodded. "I don't believe it! I'm in already – almost like as if their whole cyber-wall has been wrecked.." Chloe said suddenly. Something must have happened to affect Guardstrom's internet security as it was now really easy to get into everything. But as she bought up the feed for the security system, she was met by static – on virtually all of the cameras she was bringing up. This didn't surprise her too much as it knew that the explosion would have damaged or even wiped out some of the cameras. But as she kept changing the channels to go onto a different camera, she kept on finding static. Until finally, she found one that was working. "Got one!" Kim said, picking up on it quicker than even Chloe did. As Yanes and then Novick started to come behind the laptop, the group looked through the feed for any sign of activity.

"There.. in the top-left corner" Yanes pointed and the other three watching followed his direction. At first, there was nothing but then from the top-left corner, they saw a young and scared young woman leading a gruff and angry older man. Novick's eyes shot up as he recognized the figure. "Chloe, get a facial screenshot and analyse it against the database!" he ordered, an order that nearly threw the former analyst off-guard but she recovered quickly enough to take the screenshot. Bringing up a database, she submitted the screenshot and waited for a potential match. It took quite a few seconds but finally, it came up. The screenshot of the older man was replaced by a mugshot and details of his identity. Russian General Andre Vladimir Benediktov. A deadly silence fell over the area of the bunker, so silent in fact that someone could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. Acting President Novick had official confirmation that Benediktov was here in Washington DC. And there was a strong chance that he was after the aerial weapon that Chloe and Yanes were talking about. "My god.." Novick said quietly. He looked up towards Hogan, who quickly stood to attention in anticipation of new orders. "Get me Jack and Belcheck, immediately" he ordered Yanes quietly who nodded and slowly backed out of the room.

Novick turned back towards the General. "Send in the military, tell them to do what they can – we have to catch Benediktov!" he ordered her. As Hogan saluted, Chloe started to go through the remaining security camera feeds. Some were still working but none of them showed Benediktov. They knew he was there but not where he was going.

–

 **Guardstrom HQ**

With the katana still in one hand and the briefcase with the controls for Project Connaughton inside in the other hand, Henderson walked quickly through the wrecked hallways of the burning building. He had what he needed, but now he had to find a way out. Sooner or later, certain people were going to catch on to what he now possessed and they were going to come after him. He couldn't just stay in a safer part of the complex, he had to keep moving. As he made his way down a small set of stairs, he found himself in front of what looked like a collapsed doorway. He looked to both the left and the right of the doorway, looking down the hallways for any other means of escape; but within all the smoke and rubble, he could find none. He would have to smash his way through the doorway and hope there was something on the other side. Looking around for anything that could help him and finding nothing, Henderson slowly lowered his katana and smashed his leg against the remnants of the door, kicking it in repeatedly.

Picking up the katana once again, he made his way through the room and into an area that surprisingly was nowhere near as damaged as anywhere else – and as he scanned the area, Henderson smiled. In front of him were several parked vans, all of which were blacked-out. In the far-left hand corner of the area, there was what looked like the entryway to a large tunnel. Quickly making his way towards one of the vans, Henderson opened up the passenger-side door and placed both the katana and the briefcase on the seat. He looked along the walls of the doorway from where he entered in the hopes of finding something that would indicate as to where the tunnel would go, but he found none.

Suddenly, he heard a loud bang. Followed by another. He had to move now and find out where the tunnel went whilst on the move. He moved around to the driver's side of the van and opened the door, feeling around for the keys if they were there – and they were, underneath a panel underneath the steering wheel. With the keys in hand, he closed both doors and placed the keys into the ignition. The engine roared to life as Henderson threw the engine into reverse, moving the gear-stick backwards and pressing down on the accelerator. The van moved backwards and to the right as Henderson moved the gear-stick back into forward gear and towards the tunnel.

Up in Walkman's office, meanwhile, a panicked Evans was in the middle of smashing up just about everything he could get his hands on. Deep down, he knew full well that whoever had attacked the building was most likely either one of Henderson or Benediktov; but he also knew that neither of them could have any idea that Walkman was on her way out of her building. As a result and considering that the authorities were going to latch on to what happened to the HQ anyway, he had to get rid of all possible evidence there and then. Hampson had officially activated and launched Project Connaughton so no-one would know about it unless it came towards the DC city centre and that's only if Mack was able to get the briefcase with the controls in them before the explosion. Aside from the super-weapon, most evidence was within the office of Evans' superior and he expressly promised to protect Walkman – this qualified, he thought to himself.

He had just smashed up the bookcases and now he had to destroy Walkman's computer system – but before he did, he knew he had to check up on her position. As he opened up the laptop, he pulled up the software that linked directly to Walkman's position – something that could be achieved if the Guardstrom President was not only wearing a tracker but was also still alive. To his relief, the tracker signature was still working. But then he frowned as he pulled up the infrastructure details on her position; she was still in the tunnels, still at the first checkpoint. Why was she waiting, why wasn't the convoy moving? "What are you doing..?" Evans said to himself in disbelief. But then he was put out of his thoughts by a loud clang at the door. His blood ran cold as that clang was followed up by another. Evans had barricaded the door as well as he could, but he knew that it wasn't going to last forever. There was another clang and another clang before it all stopped. Not wasting a second, Walkman's aide grabbed the axe he had used to smash up everything in the office and prepared to smash down on the laptop.

But before he could swing the first blow, the door exploded in a massive fireball with such power that the sofa Evans had used to barricade the door was blown in two and even forced away from the remains of the door – indeed, the fireball was so powerful that it managed to knock Evans completely off his feet and up against the wall underneath the window with a view down to the laboratories. But this didn't deter the aide, as he immediately jumped to his feet and decided to use the smoke from the explosion to hide what he was about to do – but as he approached the laptop, he was immediately shot in the stomach. Then he was shot again and again and again, through the heart, head and abdomen respectively. His arm lowered the axe and after swaying from side to side, he collapsed to the floor with a thud. He was practically dead, no-one could survive being shot where he had been shot. Through the smoke, Benediktov walked in and peered over at the body of the presidential aide. He tutted. "Why on earth do people insist on having aides? They're such a frivolous waste of bullets" he muttered to himself in annoyance as he walked behind the desk to look at the laptop. If Evans had tried to destroy it, it must have something big on it.

Outside the office, Cannavale raced through the hallway and into the area where Mack's office had been – he had heard the explosion that destroyed the door and figured that it was either one of Henderson or Benediktov. As he came in, he inspected the remains and then spotted a body sticking out under bits of plaster – a young woman with red hair. Must have led the Russian here, the mercenary thought to himself. Looking through the remains of the door, he slowly made his way into Walkman's office. "HALT! WHO GOES THERE?!" he suddenly heard someone yell and nearly flinched at the sound of a gun firing. He sighed in almost relief as he realized the voice was Russian. "Calm down, General. It's only me.." he insisted as he walked into the office proper. Benediktov, who was pointing his gun upwards, lowered it. "My apologies, Clarke. Any luck in finding that weapon of yours?" he asked. Cannavale shook his head. "No.. either Guardstrom realized what was happening and hid it or it could have been destroyed in the attack" he admitted. "..OR it's absolutely fine and the controls are with Walkman – either way, we can find out in a few minutes!" Benediktov added in with a wry smile, turning the laptop around.

This got Cannavale's attention and he looked at the Russian inquisitively. "See that signature? That is President Walkman herself. She's still in the complex, in underground tunnels. For whatever reason, she's not moved in the last 15 to 20-odd minutes – and that means we don't have to go searching for her either. We can attack her HERE AND NOW!" the General explained. Cannavale had not expected this revelation in any way, but he knew that Walkman was someone Benediktov was after. For the time being, he knew he had to help. "Do me a favour – pick up a few guns and the laptop. We're gonna hit President Walkman where she doesn't expect it!" Benediktov quickly added in, taking some of his weapons and promptly leaving the office. If they were gonna do this, they simply had to attack the convoy now whilst it was still here.

Cannavale peered over at Evans' body and then at a laptop – and an idea hit him. If Benediktov was able to determine Walkman's position based on a tracker, surely the software could be altered to track someone else! Someone like Henderson. Grabbing the laptop and the remaining weapons, Cannavale raced after Benediktov. Speaking of Henderson, in another underground tunnel, a blacked-out van drove through the long stretch of tunnel – but at a rather slow speed. In the driver's cab, alongside driving through the tunnel, Henderson was looking at the controls for Project Connaughton. He had opened up the briefcase and was now following the activity for the super-weapon. Another 12 to 15 minutes and the weapon would be at it's launching destination. As soon as it was airborne, the super-weapon would finally be his.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

"Sorry, did you say Guardstrom?!"

When Novick had gotten in touch with Jack whilst the helicopter was still overflying the North Atlantic, the former CTU agent had certainly not expected to be told that there had been a massive explosion somewhere in the West of DC. The mere mention of the word Guardstrom had sent the alarm bells ringing for Jack and the thoughts of the company being an invisible contractor and then Chloe's friend suggesting that there was a super-weapon being finalized underneath the Guardstrom building had left him with much to ponder.

" _I did, Jack, yes. There's no doubt about it – the building where the explosion took place is looking more and more_ likely to be Guardstrom Headquarters" Chloe confirmed, a grim look on her face. She heard Jack sigh. " _Well.. any suggestions on_ why there was an explosion to begin with? Supposed drug reproduction company buildings don't explode for no reason" Belcheck intervened – whilst Jack had had his doubts on whether Guardstrom were telling the truth on what they really were, the Serb mobster was now very much unconvinced. " _At present, there's nothing to indicate why it happened._ But we do have a possible lead.." the former analyst said before trailing off, unsure of how Jack would react to the news. " _Well? Chloe, WHAT IS THE LEAD?_ " Jack snapped over the phone. "Jack, it's the President.. we got into Guardstrom's website, got into their security footage system. _We got a positive identification on General Benediktov. He's in the city_." Novick, noticing Chloe's uncertainty, stepped in.

Jack looked up at Belcheck, looking like someone had just punched him in the stomach. Benediktov was definitely in DC, they had no doubt about it now. The Serb mobster stepped in. " _Mr President, from the way you were talking, you're indicating that Benediktov is within Guardstrom?_ " he asked. "That's right – most of the security cameras were likely destroyed in the attack, but we were able to find one working camera and _identify Benediktov from that_ " Novick responded. Jack quickly found his voice. "Have you tried all the cameras, anything that might indicate why Benediktov was there?" he enquired. " _Not yet – we're still going through all of them_ , only found five so far that aren't damaged. Apart from the camera that spotted Benediktov, there's nothing to report" Kim said as she helped Chloe go through the available camera feeds. As mentioned, a good chunk of them were non-operable so it was a slow process.

"Alright.. keep trying. For now, we have to assume that Benediktov is going after that weapon that Freemason was talking about a few hours ago, _if it exists_ " Jack said finally, remembering himself about Chloe's former friend and what he reported to have seen just before his death. He firmly believed that such a weapon did exist but they needed some form of proof. "Will do, Jack. How far away are you now?" Novick responded before asking. Jack looked out of the helicopter windscreen and spotted what looked like landmass in the distance, through all the rain. He looked down towards the pilots, indicating that they should be the ones to tell the Acting President as they would have a better idea of their ETA. "At present speed, sir, we'll be overflying the city centre just before 08:00 hours. We'll be with you guys soon" the second pilot stated. " _Good to hear – and Jack.. one more thing_ " the Acting President added. "Sir?" Jack responded, raising an eyebrow. " _We may have a potential panic on our hands_ – add the explosion at the HQ to the attack at the blockade in the North Atlantic and the fighter jet assault earlier today and we've got not just _a media wanting answers but a city of citizens as well!_ " Novick explained.

Jack knew exactly what he meant. A potential panic was the last thing they needed; therefore, the helicopter would need to land discreetly within the city centre and he and Belcheck would need to quietly make their way back to the White House or wherever Novick needed them. "Right.. we'll take that into consideration. Be with you soon, sir!" the former agent replied before hanging up the radio. The landmass was getting closer. They were nearly back on DC soil for the second time today. "How much fuel do we have? Approximately how many minutes?" he asked the pilots. "10, 15 minutes.. 20 if we're lucky. How come?" the first pilot asked curiously. "We may just need to stay in the air for a while longer" Jack admitted as he headed back to where Belcheck was standing. Hopefully the White House would find out why Benediktov was in the remains of the HQ soon – for at the minute, something was missing from the puzzle.

–

 **Guardstrom HQ**

Near the double doors where the convoy had been, a group of four operatives were standing guard. Following the first explosion, they had tried to make contact with the main building but after 10 minutes of failing and hearing nothing but static, they had to assume that Guardstrom was under attack. Even though it was likely that Walkman had made it out of the complex, they had to defend her and stop anyone realizing where she was. They had no idea who it was exactly that had attacked them but that didn't matter to them, all that mattered was protecting the President.

Then it happened. The double doors were completely blown off their hinges and down the steps, taking the operatives by surprise. But before they could do anything else, one fell to the ground. Shot dead. Then another one fell to the ground, then another and then the last one. All four had been shot through the head. Benediktov and Cannavale emerged, walking down the steps. Cannavale scanned the laptop and looked up. "She's through there, through that tunnel!" he remarked, pointing at the tunnel near the double doors. "Excellent, any sign of movement?" the General asked. Cannavale looked at the laptop again before closing it. "None, she's still there. How do you wanna do this?" he replied.

"I say.. we walk it. Take them completely by surprise. No point using a vehicle, they'll see us coming for miles" the Russian decided before walking off. Cannavale nodded – he was right, walking would take them a bit by surprise. He raced off after him.

07:47:21AM

–

07:51:48AM

 **Guardstrom HQ**

At first, Walkman had thought nothing of the length of time it was taking for those monitoring the checkpoint to let her pass through. But as time went along and the convoy found itself stuck in the same position it had been in for over 25 minutes, it quickly became clear that something was very wrong. "Hello? Hello, hello? Will somebody please respond?" an operative said as he looked out of the limo and at one of the vans with a gun turret on the top. But to his worry and frustration, he was once again met with static. He looked over at Giles. "Something's happened, I just know it. I'm gonna go back, try and get help" he explained, jumping out of the limo and closing the door before Giles even had a chance to try and protest. From the back of the limo, Walkman could clearly make out somebody passing by as she tried her best to comfort a clearly worried Heather. "Listen, don't worry. These things just take time, I'm sure there's a good reason for why we've not been waved through" the Guardstrom President insisted. But Heather just wasn't buying it.

"Then why is it taking so long? Mom, you heard the explosion – why else would we be not moving?" she replied anxiously. Walkman didn't have an answer so she tried to build on the excuse she gave. "It could all just be a system failure, I've seen something like that up close in the past. Giles!" she started before pressing down on the intercom so that she could talk with the driver. But only Giles didn't respond. She pressed down on the intercom. "Giles?" she called his name again. But once again, he didn't respond. He was fixated on the limo's interior-view mirror as he could see something coming towards them. Two mysterious figures looking like they were carrying weapons and who didn't look like they were Guardstrom operatives. "Giles?!" Walkman called again, finally snapping him out of his thoughts. "Oh, er.. sorry Madame President. What were you saying?" he spluttered, which sent Walkman's eyebrow up in concern. "Are you ok, Giles?" she asked. "Yes, yes! It's just, there are two figures coming towards us.." he admitted, pointing out the interior-view mirror. Intrigued, Walkman peered forward – and just as the driver had said, there were two dark figures headed straight for them. And much like Giles, the Guardstrom President had a feeling they weren't to do with the contractor.

As for the operative who had spoken with Giles, he was now heading towards the two figures, blissfully unaware of who they were. "Hey! So what the hell is going on? 20 minutes we've been trying to contact someone, what's with the hold-up?" he asked, both in a demanding and curious tone. "Do you hear the explosion?" one figure said with a Russian accent. The operative rose an eyebrow, both at the question and the Russian accent. "Yeeesss... would have thought everyone heard it" he responded pointedly. "Well then.." the figure with the accent started as he pulled a knife blade from his pocket – and plunged it into the operative's gut, twisting the knife in the process. "..I suggest that you use your imagination" he added, retracting the knife and letting the operative fall backwards to the ground. Dropping several guns onto the floor, the figure turned to the second figure. "You suggest you duck and cover, Clarke.. gonna be a hell of a bang" Benediktov said as he picked up a rocket launcher from the pile of weapons. Immediately getting the picture, Cannavale leapt onto the ground and covered his head – as Benediktov aimed the rocket launcher at the last vehicle in the convoy, a van with a gun turret, and fired.

"What the hell?!" Giles shrieked in shock as he saw the rocket launcher being fired – but was unable to explain to a confused Walkman before the rocket hit the van, destroying it in a fireball. As the glass windows on the remaining convoy vehicles cracked or even shattered completely, Benediktov wasted no time in dropping the launcher and instead picking up several guns. "Let's go, Clarke!" he shouted as he raced into action, leaving several guns behind for the mercenary. Looking up but not moving from his spot, Cannavale watched as several operatives leapt into action – whilst Giles scrambled into action, opening the door to the middle of the limo and pulling out his gun as he locked the door, sitting next to a fellow operative and opposite a jointly-terrified Walkman and Heather. "Madame President, for your safety, I suggest you duck down out of sight!" the driver ordered, as he positioned his gun upwards at the cracked glass. Outside, two operatives jumped down from the back of the van directly behind the limo and fell to their sides on the left-hand side of the van, opening fire on the Russian advancing on them. However, they stood no chance as the General torn through them, killing them both in an instant. Further operatives made their way out of the van, only to be gunned down before they could even fire on the Russian, whilst several operatives were shot and killed by an advancing Cannavale.

Even though she couldn't see anything, Walkman could hear the rapid gunshots outside of the limo and grimaced. She looked towards Heather, who looked like she was close to tears. She was tempted to surrender, but then she knew that she would likely be gunned down before she was even out of the limo. Outside, several operatives crept down between the van and the limo, hoping to catch Benediktov off-guard – but he was onto them before they knew it, as he threw himself onto the three men and wrestled them. With complete ease, he snapped the arm of one before throwing him onto another operative and using the distraction to break both of his legs and then turning his attention to the last one, who slammed himself back against the back of the limo in fear. Eyeing him done, the Russian grabbed the operative's neck and snapped it. Hearing the sound of gunshots behind me, he peered over his shoulder and found Cannavale firing his way through half a dozen operatives. Suddenly, he was grabbed on the left shoulder and swung around forcefully until he was facing an operative ready to punch him – but even that wasn't enough as Benediktov simply stopped the fist and snapped the operative's arm, pushing him back into the wall. He walked past the locked limo door, a decision that surprised everyone inside the limo and instead walked towards the bonnet.

Smashing it open, he pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin out before forcing it inside and shutting the bonnet. The resulting explosion, whilst not as powerful owing to the closed bonnet, had enough power to smash the windscreen and crack the door windows. Walkman grabbed Heather close, trying desperately to console her teenage daughter. Satisfied at the damage so far, Benediktov knelt down and pulled out another grenade – again pulling the pin out, he threw it under the limo directly underneath Giles and the operative. Because of the damage caused by the first grenade, part of the limo had dropped down onto the floor and that was what the second grenade made contact with. The explosion proceeded to rip apart the limo, killing the two men and pushing Walkman and Heather back against the seats. The metal buckled and fell apart as Benediktov returned to the locked doors, this time pulling it off with ease. He stared through the smoke at the two terrified women watching him. And he smiled, as President Walkman was there in front of him. "Madame President. It is an honour, at long last to meet you" he said, an almost sneering gentle tone in his voice, before he lunged forward and grabbed her by the hair. "MOM! MOM!" Heather started screaming desperately as Walkman was pulled out of the remains of the limo.

"Clarke, the girl – KILL HER!" Benediktov snarled as Cannavale approached the other side of the limo. Surprised by the order, the mercenary opened the door which promptly fell off. "NO! PLEASE! PLEASE, DON'T DO!" Walkman yelled desperately as she locked eyes with her daughter and then Cannavale. She looked up at Benediktov. "Please.. please.. she hasn't done anything. Leave her alone, I'll come with you willingly" she begged. Benediktov looked down at her, anger in his eyes, before looking over at Cannavale and then the remains of the limo at Heather, who was close to tears. He sighed. "Very well; leave the girl, Clarke. We've got what we came for!" he decided before walking over towards the van with the gun turret at the front of the convoy, dragging the Guardstrom President by the arm as he did so. He forced open one of the doors. "Are you going to come quietly?" he asked as he looked at his captive. Forcing herself free of the Russian's grip, Walkman slowly climbed into the back of the van and sat down, not wanting to risk the Russian changing his mind and killing Heather.

Leaving the door open, he glared at her. "I'd say let's move out, Clarke. We need to go somewhere that the government will not be expecting.." he said as he turned to the right. Only Cannavale was nowhere to be seen. Benediktov frowned. "Did you hear me, Clarke?" he asked, wondering where he could have gone. "I did.." a voice said quietly and Benediktov turned to his left, only to be smashed in the face by the rocket launcher. Thrown backwards, the Russian was then thrust into the wall by Cannavale. "But there's been a change in plans, General. I'm taking Walkman and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" the mercenary declared as he swung the launcher into the General's face once more, this time with another power to send Benediktov crashing to the ground – after several seconds of what appeared to be drifting in and out of consciousness, he finally passed out. But what he didn't know was that when he landed on the ground, the briefcase of remote launchers had broken loose and landed next to the back-right wheel of the front van. Suddenly remembering it and realizing he never asked about it, Cannavale crouched down and checked the case. The launchers were all intact inside and it quickly dawned on the mercenary just what they were. "They might come in handy.." he muttered as he picked up the case and walked to the back of the van, where Walkman had seen anything.

"Sorry to have to do this, Madame President.." he started before crashing his head into hers. She fell backwards, knocked out, as Cannavale moved her legs inside and locked the doors tight. He climbed into the front cab and into the driver's seat, placing the briefcase onto the passenger seat. Peering out through the interior-view mirror, he started up the engine and drove off into the tunnel. He was sure a route had been planned in and he was going to follow it.

As expected, watching the car drive off through the wreckage of the limo was Heather who had been left completely shaken by the experience – not only had she nearly died twice and nearly been shot, but she had to watch her mother being taken and then had to see the mastermind behind the attack, a Russian General, being double-crossed. She wasn't sure what to do. "He.. Heat.. Heather..." he suddenly looked up and to her horror, the operative sitting opposite her was alive. Badly burnt and most likely near death, but still somehow alive. "Und... under... seat... use... it..." the operative desperately tried to splutter, raising his arm to point under the seat even though moving his arm was causing him clear pain. Doing as he ordered, Heather looked under the seat and found another briefcase. Pulling it out, she looked up at the operative. "Now what?" she asked, only to notice that the operative had passed away. He had used the last of his energy to tell her about the briefcase but nothing about what it was. Slowly opening the case up via the latches, Heather was taken aback by what she saw. There was a small disposable phone, an iPad-like screen with a single dot moving slowly to the top of the screen, a small notebook with what looked like a lock on it, two flares and a beacon transmitter.

It quickly dawned on Heather that this was an emergency survival kit – and eyeing the phone, she realized she needed to call for help.

–

In another one of the ghost tunnels, meanwhile, Henderson bought the blacked-out van to a halt. He was pretty certain he was clear enough of the complex enough to take a quick break and check out a number of things. He took a look at the sat-nav and decided to see where the tunnel went – considering that the tunnels he had found so far went under the city centre, he wouldn't be surprised if the tunnels went under pretty much every part of the city or even Virginia on the whole

He pressed a button underneath the small screen, which immediately bought up a large map network of tunnels going off in different directions. In the end, he practically lost count as there were so many and he'd been there all day if he tried to identify every single one. Pressing another button, the route planner came up alongside a small touch keypad. He didn't want to complicate things too badly so he just decided to type in "straight route through the tunnel" onto the planner. It took several seconds of calculating, but finally a route came up. " _Planned route confirmed. Destination: The White House. Press the touch pad to finalize route_ " the navigation system voice beeped. Henderson sat back in his seat in shock. Guardstrom had tunnels leading to the White House. Just what kind of person was President Walkman? She had tunnels underneath the city, an army capable of fighting a war AND a super-weapon capable of ripping apart even the most indestructible military vessels.

Shaking his head, Henderson decided to check what was in the back of the van. He was pretty sure there would only be a few weapons in there, guns and grenades and the like. But as he opened the door, he was not expecting to find what he found; there was a large cylinder-like device in the middle of it, surrounded by bricks and a timer that had not been switched on. Climbing into the back, Henderson investigated further and it quickly hit him what it was that he had found: it was an electromagnetic pulse bomb. An E.M.P. A non-lethal but highly destructive weapon that was capable of destroying anything electric within a certain mile radius. If positioned in the right place, it could wipe out electricity for a large chunk of a city. And it was then that he was hit with a new plan. It was brilliant, simply brilliant, It involved the planned underground route to the White House, the E.M.P and the super-weapon. "Oh yes.. that's just marvellous" he said to himself with a dark smile.

By the end of the day and if this plan worked.. Washington DC would be in ruins. The government would be destroyed. Jack Bauer would be dead for killing his father. And it was likely that either one of Benediktov or President Walkman or even both of them would get the blame. International relations would break down, the country would be rocked to its core and the chances of a third world war would be inevitable. And he, Jeremy Henderson, would have vanished into thin air. He could live out his life, having gotten the revenge he so desperately wanted.

He walked back into the van's cab and began to plot out his plan in full. He had the time and it would take time to work out all the cogs. But in short, what he was about to initiate would change the world – and it would impact the world far more than whatever plan General Benediktov or President Walkman had to offer up.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

Within all the bad weather, one might be forgiven for not noticing the abandoned oil rig within the North Atlantic. But there certainly was an abandoned oil rig, to the south of Bermuda. There had been plans for the rig to be demolished but planned demolition had been postponed owing to the storm. For all the wind and the rain that the storm was throwing at the rig, it was still standing pretty strong.

Until suddenly, the whole rig platform began to shake uncontrollably. Metal became to twist or outright collapse, like as if an earthquake was happening underneath – but then, coming up from under the rig and sending the platform flying backwards was what looked like an interior launch-pad. The launch-pad moved slowly upwards until it was facing the dark clouds at an angle. Inside, a loud voice was booming. " _Launch pad activated. Commencing launch in 20 seconds_ " the voice declared as at the bottom of the pad, Project Connaughton was raised into position. A strike of lightning hit the sky as the final countdown. " _Launching weapon in 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... 0!_ " the voice droned until suddenly, the engines at the back of the super-weapon ignited. It started to shake as the clamps holding the super-weapon in place were released.

With the blast of the engines at the back helping, Project Connaughton rose up the pad and finally out into the open. It flew towards the dark skies whilst onboard, a spinning sphere turned sharply forward. " _Co-ordinates confirmed. Heading for first weapon's testing site. Estimated time of arrival, 30 minutes_!" a new voice declared as the super-weapon moved to the east in the direction of America.

Project Connaughton was finally airborne and heading for it's first target.

–

 **Guardstrom HQ**

Whilst she knew she had to contact someone if she had any hopes of saving her mother, Heather just did not know who to contact. She could hardly contact anyone within Guardstrom as it was likely no-one would answer, owing to the sudden attack 30 minutes ago. Her mother was her only family so that was out. Everyone around her was dead or unconscious so she couldn't ask anyone for help. In short, the teenager had no idea what to do.

She looked back through the briefcase in the hopes that she would find something she missed the first time. It took a while but she found a small piece of paper underneath the book with the lock on it and read it. It was a list of contacts, including one that got her attention as it did not look like a contact number at first – it looked like a radio frequency and it had the words "only in the case of extreme emergency" underneath it. Heather thought to herself. If this wasn't an extreme emergency, then what did qualify as one? Typing in the number onto the phone, Heather waited. The seconds ticked by before the phone started talking. " **Radio frequency matched and identified. Please proceed** " an automated voice stated. A little startled at first, Heather returned the phone to her ear. "Hello? Hello, can anyone hear me? Is anyone there?" she pleaded.

–

07:56:44AM

 **Washington DC**

As the rain continued to pour down over the city, it didn't take long for Jack to spot the thick smoke in the distance – even with the rain pouring down, the fire was still burning enough for smoke to be produced. "There! In the distance.. that must be Guardstrom" he said outloud, holding his hand out as if to say he wanted a pair of binoculars. Handing a pair to him, the NCIS agent looked out of the window. His eyes widened at the sight of the smoke. "Good god. No wonder the President said there could be a panic" he muttered. Jack ignored him and looked towards the pilots. "How close do you think you could get to there?" he asked, which raised the heckles of the agent. "How close?! Jack, with no disrespect, we barely have enough fuel to get back to the Navy Yard! We'll crash due to fuel exhaustion if we head to Guardstrom!" he snapped.

Jack looked at him, unimpressed. "Well I'm sorry you think that, agent.. but in case you've forgotten, we have evidence of a proven terrorist moving around in Guardstrom HQ. You want to be the one who tells the President that we missed out on catching him because you were more worried about your fuel consumption?!" the former agent retorted, as the sound of thunder made itself known across the sky. Belcheck decided to ignore the argument and focus on helping getting the helicopter on the ground, but as he approached the pilots, the radio buzzed to life. " _Hello? Hello, can anyone hear me? Is anyone there?!_ " a desperate voice cried. The Serb mobster shared a surprised look with the pilots – the radio frequency that the helicopter used was known to only a few people. Unless someone who knew the frequency was in some kind of danger. Belcheck picked up the radio. "Hello? Who is this?" he asked. He heard a sigh of relief on the other end. " _Oh thank god! Thank you, I thought no-one would pick up!_ " the voice replied. It sounded young, female and scared.

The second pilot took the radio. "Listen, whoever you are – this is an NCIS frequency only. Unless you're in an emergency, I suggest you hang up now!" he said sternly. He had experience of prank calls and this felt like one. " _NO! PLEASE.. don't hang up. I need help.. I'm trapped underground. There.. there are bodies all around me.. I'm scared_ " the voice replied desperately. The last message from the mysterious voice had got Jack's attention and he grabbed the radio. "Ok, listen to me, sweetheart. Tell us who you are and where you are" he insisted. He had a feeling this was real. " _I'm.. I'm Heather. I don't know where I am.._ I'm in some kind of tunnel underground. Oh god.. my mom and I, we were ambushed by two men. One of them, he's _got my mom.._ " Heather said, trying her best to fight back the tears as she spoke. "Ok, Heather. Give me a few seconds and I'll get back to you, I promise, just stay on the frequency.." Jack promised before handing the radio to Belcheck. He pulled out his phone and dialled a number.

In the White House bunker and even though she was still going through the security monitors, Chloe was quick to grab her phone the very second it started to ring. "O'Brien" she said as she bought the phone to her ear. " _Chloe, it's Jack. I appreciate you_ may be busy but I need you to isolate a radio frequency for me" he said, a request that surprised the former analyst. "Alright, but what for?" she asked. " _Someone was able to make contact with the radio on the helicopter, claiming her mother has been abducted_ – normally, I'd think it was a hoax but I just have a feeling this has more to it than we think" the former agent said, his gut doing most of the talking. "Alright" Chloe agreed after some thought. " _Give me the frequency_ ".

With the one phone in one hand, Jack took the radio back from Belcheck. "Heather? _You still with us, sweetheart?_ " he spoke into it. Heather was not expecting to get a response so soon and nearly dropped the phone. "Yeah! I'm here. What do you need?" she asked. " _The radio frequency you used to contact us. We're gonna try and locate you, alright?_ " Jack replied. Heather wasn't too sure about giving out the frequency but she had no real choice in thinking about it. "Alright..."

" _...the frequency is .9, under Emergency Communications_ " she explained. " _Right, that's brilliant. Just stay with us, sweetheart. We're right above DC, we'll find you soon!_ " Jack replied, unaware of who was listening in. "Well, I'll be damned! Jack Bauer!" Cannavale said in a sing-song voice as he drove through the ghost tunnel. "So.. you're above the city now, are you Jack? Well.. NOT if I have anything to do with that. I guess it's time to test out these bad boys" he said to himself as he opened up the briefcase of launchers and pulled one out. He was intrigued as to how it worked and opted to stop the van to figure it out. Pressing down on the button, the small screen lit up and asked in a different language to enter in a target. The mercenary's Russian was not so good, but he was able to figure out what it was asking – and then the small screen asked for a form of target identification, as in how it could distinguish this target from any other. Remembering the frequency, Cannavale keyed in ".9, under Emergency Communications" and pressed down on the button once more. He hoped that would work.

At the bottom of the North Atlantic, meanwhile, several divers were hovering over what remained of the Yuri Dolgorukiy. The ships on the surface were still waiting on the heavy-duty equipment to arrive to help with salvaging the submarine. One diver signalled to the other divers that they should head back to the surface or towards the submarine Olympia – but he spotted something strange. It was the hatch for the ballistic missiles and it was opening up. Someone appeared to be launching a missile but that was just impossible. Then, from out of nowhere, the missile launched upwards – barely missing the diver – and towards the surface. It crashed out of the water and into the air, taking Commander Robinson by surprise. The missile flew into the sky before changing direction so that it was horizontal and then flying at full speed towards the East Coast. Robinson, having just-about seen it all, raced towards the radio system, not giving his communications officer a change to give him the radio. "This is Commander Robinson contacting the White House, repeat Commander Robinson contacting the White House! Missile launched and heading for the East Coast!" he shouted quickly.

Within the bunker, meanwhile, Chloe was trying her hardest to isolate Heather's location based on the frequency she had given Jack and where that frequency was transmitting from. It was taking a while but finally, she got it. "Alright, Jack, we have Heather's location – it's West of your position, _Area 99, Reference 256_ " she confirmed as the pilots bought up a map of the area and keyed in the location given to them. Jack scanned the map results and frowned. "Chloe, just checking – did you say Area 99, Reference 256?" he asked. " _Yeah, why?_ " he heard the analyst reply. "It's just.. according to the maps, that's literally north of Guardstrom!" he explained.

Several miles away, meanwhile, the missile was now overflying Delaware and headed towards DC at an impressive speed.

As for Chloe, she was retrying the frequency and checking to see if the computer could have made an error. But it hadn't – and she quickly realized that the confirmed location was in-fact literally north of Guardstrom HQ. "You're right, Jack – but _if the frequency is coming from near the HQ.._ " she started. "Yeah, I get what you're saying. I'm gonna check it out, I'll let you know what we find" Jack insisted as he handed the phone to the NCIS agent. They needed to start on the line with Chloe in the event that something did come up and they needed to make contact with the bunker in an instance. He turned to the pilots. "Take us to Area 99, Reference 256, immediately!" he ordered as the rain battered against the windscreen and a bolt of lightning appeared in the distance. This time, the NCIS Agent didn't argue about the fuel consumption.

The helicopter began to turn to its left and towards the burning remains of Guardstrom HQ – but then the agent began to hear desperate voices from the phone. "Jack!" he said, holding up the phone. Taking it, the former agent tried to speak into it only to be cut off. " _.. just get on the ground now!_ " he heard Chloe yell. "Chloe? What's going on?" he asked. " _JACK, GET THE HELICOPTER ON THE GROUND NOW!_ YOU'VE GOT A MISSILE HEADED RIGHT TOWARDS YOU!" Chloe explained, trying her hardest to get a heat signature on the ballistic missile. Dropping the phone, Jack raced towards the pilots and pushed down on the controls, sending the helicopter dropping towards the ground. "What are you doing?!" the pilot snapped, baffled by Jack's impulsive action. But Jack wasn't listening; he was looking out of the helicopter in horror. The missile appeared from out of the clouds – and it was coming straight towards them at an alarming speed..

–

08:00:00AM

* * *

And that's all she wrote.. for this chapter.

But yeah, wow - Guardstrom HQ has been attacked. Walkman has been abducted by Cannavale. Henderson finally has his hands on Project Connaughton. And perhaps most crucially, Benediktov has been double-crossed. One of the big bads of the story, double-crossed just like that. Next time.. Project Connaughton begins it's rampage whilst the resolve of what remains of the United States government is put to the test when they are forced into an alliance.

And before you start saying that the whole idea of Cannavale and his actions all being influenced by a mistake sounds farfetched, I can assure you now that it is not. After all, one of the key reasons that the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 was because the man that the Germans chose for a press conference concerning visas for East Germans to enter West Germany gave out the wrong information that led to the Wall falling and the end of the Cold War. One of the reasons that the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was because the Allies read the Japanese Prime Minister's response to a surrender as not "being worthy of comment". Events in history and popular culture can be built on mistakes - and that's no different for this story.

Anyhow, please rate and review as always. See you next time, guys :)


	22. 22: 8am - 9am (WET)

Hello, all!

So here we are - Hour 22. I'm not so sure when the last two parts will be up on the basis I haven't even started the scene structure outline for Hour 23! But I promise they will be up at some point. Not much but all I can give you all at this point.

In the meantime, enjoy :D

 **DISCLAIMER: See Chapter 1**

* * *

22: 8am – 9am (WET):

 **The following takes place between 8am and 9am, Washington Eastern Time:**

–

08:00:01AM

 **Washington DC**

Jack knew that the helicopter's Ground Proximity Alert System was going off, but that was of little concern at the minute as he desperately pushed the control stick for the helicopter downwards in an attempt to avoid the missile. But as Belcheck quickly noticed, the missile was almost locked into a collision course. "Jack!" he yelled and the former agent looked up. Gritting his teeth, he pushed the control stick down as far as he could get it to.

The helicopter flew closer to the ground and because of Jack's pure determination in trying to move the chopper out of the missile's course, the ballistic missile missed the rotors by inches. But the NCIS agent looked out of the other side of the helicopter and realized with horror that instead of going in the same direction that it was going in, the missile was now sharply turning back towards the helicopter. "It's coming back round!" he yelled, prompting Jack to keep the control stick pushed down. "Belcheck, phone!" the former agent ordered and the Serb mobster immediately pressed the phone against Jack's right ear. "Chloe, please tell me you've got a signature!" he yelled into it. " _I don't know to say, Jack, but there is none!_ Believe me, I've tried, but I just can't get any kind of lock on the missile – it's there but _I can't lock on!_ " Chloe shouted back, partly out of desperation. No matter what she did and even though she could tell that there was a missile, she couldn't get a lock on it. It was almost like as though it was masked.

"Well, we need something! We can't keep dodging it forever, not with the amount of fuel we have!" the NCIS agent shouted back, grabbing the phone and yelling into it. " _YEAH, I GET THAT! JUST BACK OFF!_ " Chloe snapped angrily. She continued to type rapidly on the laptop, but it was then that it hit her. A missile had been able to strike and shoot down the plane carrying the disgraced Chief of Staff without being tracked. A missile had been able to attack and sink the CVN carrier without being tracked. The Yuri Dolgorukiy had been able to attack the blockade in the North Atlantic with missiles that weren't tracked or detected until it was too late. "Jack.. I know why I can't get a lock on the missiles. _These are missiles from Benediktov's submarine, they're masked!_ " she replied. Just as it had made sense to Chloe, it started to make sense to Jack. "Ok, what CAN you do?" he replied. " _I'm making contact with nearby military bases, gonna see if_ they have any fighters that can shoot down the missile. But until then, just do what you can to keep _yourself out of the missile's line of sight!_ " the former analyst insisted. Not needing to be told twice, Jack slammed the phone shut and looked out of the windscreen. Even with the rain smashing against it, he could see that they were getting close to the ground.

"Alright, pull the stick towards you! Get us back in the air!" he said suddenly, grabbing the control stick and pulling it back towards him as hard as he could. The helicopter surged back into the sky, which proved to be the right choice as the missile again missed it's target – but much like it did last time, instead of crashing into the road beneath it, the missile levelled out and raced back into the air, before turning sharply and back towards the helicopter. It was only a matter of time before the missile would hit it's target and Jack knew it. He could only hope that Chloe could get help in time. He peered out of the helicopter. "Turn the other way! Turn towards the Northeast!" he suddenly ordered, as everyone looked at him in confusion. Turning left would take them in the direction of the burning remains of Guardstrom HQ. "Just do it! There's a good stretch of road below us, in case we have to limit the damage!" he insisted. As the pilots realized what he was on to, they immediately pushed down on the control stick before turning it sharply to the right.

This act would once again save the lives of all five men onboard, for as the helicopter moved downwards, the missile once again missed hitting the rotors by only a few inches. As the helicopter steered in the opposite direction and in the direction of Guardstrom HQ, the missile also sharply turned direction. Sooner or later, it would hit it's target and the pilots were aware of this. On the outskirts of the city and within the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling military base, meanwhile, two fighter jets were lining up on one of the base's runways. " _As soon as both of you are airborne, fly straight towards the city centre. Destroy the missile as soon as you see it!_ " a gruff voice ordered over the radio of one of the pilots for the fighter jet. "Will do, over" the pilot responded simply before beginning his run down the runaway. Within seconds, the landing gear left the tarmac as the jet flew into the air and towards the sky, the second fighter jet following close behind. "We need to be careful, Canton – _this particular missile is a ballistic with a masked signature. We won't be able to lock onto it easily_ " the first pilot explained to the other. "Got it" Canton replied simply as the jets rolled through the rain towards the city centre.

Onboard the helicopter, the pilots were pushing the control stick downwards so that they were flying closer towards the road below. The stretch of road that Jack was talking about did lead to Guardstrom HQ, which was not far from the Colmar Manor Community Park and if they kept on the route they were going on, they would eventually move out of the city centre proper and close to the United States National Arboretum. Should they run out of fuel or the missile manage to hit them, then at least they would be away from causing potential mass causalities. Belcheck pressed himself up against the doors of the helicopter in a bid to try and see where exactly the missile was and how it was from hitting them. "Speed we're going and unless we slip up, that thing will hit us in about 60 seconds!" he explained. The pilots certainly didn't need to be told twice as they pushed the control stick forward, which wasn't helping their fuel situation in any way, but not that anyone was even giving any consideration to that in any way.

About a minute behind them, meanwhile, and near the Navy Yard, the two fighter jets were making their way to the West. "I can see them!" Canton declared as he pointed upwards. The missile was flying closer and closer to the helicopter, but the fighter pilots could just-about make it out. " _Alright, let's get closer! Any deviation and they're done for!_ " the second pilot insisted, referring to those on the helicopter, as the two jets moved closer towards the ground. "We've got company! Chloe pulled through!" Belcheck yelled, again having pressed himself against the window. Then one of the pilots had a brainwave. "I've got an idea. Everyone, hold on to something!" he ordered before pulling the control stick straight back towards him. As a result of this, the helicopter sharply moved upwards back towards the sky, with the missile then following – which proved to be critical in the pilots' attempt to destroy it. "I've got as clear a shot as we're gonna get. Fire now!" Canton ordered as he immediately opened fire. As a result of the masked signature, shooting it down was going to be harder without having the targeting system on-hand – but as Canton had pointed out, it's emergence back up into the air had given the fighters more of an open shot at shooting it down.

Within seconds, one of Canton's jet's missiles flew straight downwards, down towards the ballistic missile. "They've fired, get us down now!" Belcheck insisted. It was now a mere matter of timing. The fighter jet's missiles edged closer and closer. But it was when the helicopter moved sharply downwards that the ballistic missile was hit. Normally, a standard missile hit when in the air would just explode without too much damage caused to infrastructure or any civilian casualties, but because this was a ballistic missile, the impact was just that much greater. As the ballistic missile exploded, one of the resulting shock-waves smacked straight into the helicopter, creating a large amount of turbulence and causing the chopper to shake uncontrollably. "HOLD ON!" Jack yelled as he grabbed hold of one of the hooks hanging down from the helicopter's roof for dear life. The helicopter landed roughly on the road and the pilots instantly moved to activate the brake system. But no matter how hard they tried with the brakes, the helicopter just slid down the road at an unstoppable speed. "Turn everything off!" the NCIS agent suggested desperately, but the pilots didn't respond – they were too busy trying to keep control of the helicopter.

Suddenly, Jack looked up and out the windscreen for the chopper at what looked like a crossroad in the distance. An Army truck was slowly emerging onto the main road. "WATCH OUT!" he shouted and the pilots looked up to see the truck getting closer and closer. But before they could do anything, the helicopter suddenly left the road tarmac – and then smashed at speed into the truck. The truck flipped and crashed repeatedly as the chopper slammed back into the road, only this time it was starting to slow down. It slid onto it's side and slid along the tarmac, sparks flying in the process, for quite a distance before finally coming to a halt next to a row of parked cars. The helicopter had stopped and for what it was worth, the five occupants were safe.

At the same time, meanwhile, and within the ghost tunnels, Cannavale had been following the launched missile through the tracking system within the remote launcher – and when the signal indicating the missile was live disappeared, the mercenary frowned. But it was then that he realized. The only likely reason the signal would disappear was if the missile hit its target. The people he was trying to stop from following him were likely dead, which was what mattered at present to Cannavale. He smiled in relief and pulled out a disposable flip-phone from his pocket, typing in a number and putting the phone next to his ear. "Yes! Yes, Shanklish. Good news, I'm on my way to the Port finally. There's something I need to do and I've got the things needed for it, but that can be done when we're on the ship on Vancouver. Is everything in place, the explosives ready?" he spoke into it and asked multiple questions. "Brilliant, brilliant. Thank you. I'll see you all soon" he finished before hanging up and closing the flip-phone.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

The rain was starting to die down, which gave a great deal of relief to Commander Robinson. He and the crew of the Albany had practically been stuck in their current position for the last 3 hours and tensions were starting to settle in. But with the rain slowly subsiding, it was an indicator that the storm would finally be coming to an end. "Commander, we're being hailed over the radio! Priority one!" the radio communications officer, Higley, said out of the blue. Coming towards the radio, Robinson was given the receiver. "This is Commander Robinson, to whom am I speaking?"he spoke into it. " _Good morning to you, Commander! We can just make you out on the horizon!_ " a female voice replied, but with a Russian accent which surprised both the Commander and Higley. "Right, ok.. may I ask who this is?" Robinson said, his voice uneasy. The fact that the woman he heard had a Russian accent didn't put him nearly as much at ease as he could have hoped for – what if this was someone helping Benediktov? Considering the events of the last few hours, he had to consider every possibility. He was almost tempted to order for the Olympia to launch one of their torpedoes.

"SIR! We have a vessel headed towards us, at full speed!" a petty officer yelled, startling Robinson. "Is it the salvage equipment?" he asked hopefully. "No, sir.. it's coming from the opposite direction. It's Russian!" the officer replied back. " _I would suggest you listen to your crew, Commander. We mean you no harm. We are simply here to help!_ " the Russian woman insisted. Frowning, Robinson handed the radio receiver back to Higley and looked out of the bridge's window with his binoculars. Scanning the surrounding seas, he could see a Russian ship heading towards them. He moved back to Higley and the receiver. "Ok, I can see you. But who are you and what do you want?!" he replied, clearly on edge. He heard a soft scoff. " _I assure you, Commander. We mean you no harm. My name is Commander Olga Troskishan of the Russian destroyer Stalingrad._ We have been sent by President Surarov to assist your country in stopping General Benediktov – and to help salvage our submarine as well" Troskishan insisted. " _You're here to assist?_ Does our government know this as we haven't been informed of any offers of assistance in the last few hours" Robinson replied, still suspicious.

" _Well.. truth be told, we've been travelling at speed from near the French coast for the past 9 hours_. President Surarov felt that you need not know about this until now, in the event of General Benediktov catching wind of it. If he found out we were here, _the consequences could be quite bad_ " the Russian commander admitted. Robinson still had his suspicions, but he knew that the Russian commander did have a point and that they could also use the help – and considering how badly relations had gone following the events in New York four years ago, this would be a nice chance for America and Russia to work together in stopping what was increasingly becoming clear to be a common enemy. "Very well – we start work as soon as our heavy-duty equipment arrives. We greatly appreciate the help, Commander" he conceded. But before Commander Troskishan could reply, the petty officer manning the radar spoke up. "Sir! We have two ships approaching from the East; it's the salvage equipment!" he explained. Robinson walked over to the radar; he certainly recognized the signatures on the radar for the ships. There was no chance of mistaken identity, the ships approaching were to help with salvaging the remains of the Yuri Dolgorukiy.

" _Commander?_ " Trokishan said over the radio, snapping Robinson back into it as he headed back towards the radio receiver. "Sorry, Olga. I'd said you arrived just in time. Let's get your vessel to the surface" he explained. " _Excellent. We shall be arriving in 5 minutes time_ " the Russian commander replied. As Robinson put the radio back, he resisted the urge to punch the air in delight. Things were starting to look up for everyone. "Contact Commander Gibson, tell them to prepare for new arrivals" he quickly ordered Higley, who nodded.

–

 **Washington DC**

Considering it had smashed into an army truck whilst trying to come to a stop, the helicopter was not even badly damaged. The door was slid open before Jack, Belcheck, the NCIS agent and the pilots emerged. The first thing that Jack felt as he emerged into the open was the falling rain, which normally would have made him smirk out of the sheer ridiculousness of it all – whilst he was glad to finally be back on solid ground, the wet conditions from the thunderstorm had played a huge part in the helicopter's mad run down the stretch of road.

At that moment, another Army truck pulled up from behind the former CTU agent. Several soldiers emerged from the cab. "Mr Bauer?" one shouted over the rain. "That's me!" Jack shouted back. "Sgt. Ranwright, US Army. We have orders from the President to help you with whatever you need!" Ranwright explained as he held out his hand, Jack shaking it. "Thank you! Can you get me in touch with the President? And these gentlemen need escorting to the Navy Yard!" Jack replied, indicating towards the NCIS agent and the pilots, all three of whom looking surprised at the last order. "You helped get me back here, there's nothing more you can really do!" the former CTU agent explained. Whilst the NCIS agent did at least look disappointed at not being able to help, he could understand why. This was no longer a Navy matter of any kind. As the three were escorted to a second Army truck not far behind the first one, Belcheck suddenly remembered. "Jack! The girl.. we haven't.." he spluttered and Jack immediately knew what the Serb mobster meant. Heather. "See if the radio's intact, try and see if she's still with us!" he ordered as he practically turned on his heel and followed Sgt. Ranwright to the truck cab.

As he climbed into the passenger seat, he was immediately handed a radio receiver. Ranwright climbed into the driver's seat but left the door open as he finalized the frequency. "Hello, Mr President? Can you hear me, over?" he asked as he lent over to Jack and spoke into the receiver. It took a few seconds but then the two men got the response they wanted to hear. " _Loud and clear, Sergeant_ " Novick responded. "I have Jack Bauer for you! Go right ahead" Ranwright said to Jack who wasted no time. "Mr President?" the former agent spoke into the receiver. He heard a sigh of relief. " _Let me tell you this, Jack; one of these days,_ we are going to have to have a nice long chat concerning you and helicopters. Five you've been on in the last 24 hours and four of them alone have crashed" Novick sounded like he was serious, but the slight smirk he gave to Chloe indicated his joking manner. Thankfully, Jack took it in his stride. " _Believe me, sir_ – I've had enough of helicopters for today!" he insisted, smiling purely out of relief. " _That's good; how are you and Belcheck holding up?_ " the Acting President pushed on. "We're doing fine _; Belcheck's currently trying to locate the girl we were talking with before the missile strike. Any change on her condition?_ " Jack replied, the last question reserved for Chloe in the hopes that she was there with Novick.

" _Jack, it's Chloe –_ I've been following the frequency signature given to us and as far as I can tell, Heather hasn't moved. It's just a case of finding out her exact location" Chloe explained, looking at her laptop as she spoke. " _Got it. Maybe Belcheck will_ get something" the former agent replied just as he spotted the Serb mobster climbing out of the helicopter. "JACK! The girl is alright, she wants to talk to you" he yelled through the rain. "Mike, Chloe, I'll get back to you" Jack stated and immediately hung up the radio receiver before either one of Chloe or the Acting President had the chance to reply. He jumped out of the truck cab and towards the helicopter, climbing back inside and picking up the radio receiver. "Heather?" he spoke into it. He heard a sigh of relief. " _I was starting to get worried, you never got back to me.._ " Heather responded, sounding exhausted. "I'm sorry about that, sweetheart. Had a few problems trying to land the helicopter but I'm on the ground now.." the former agent explained, but the reply that followed was not what he was expecting. " _Helicopter problems, did you say?_ Only I heard a crash from overground not that far in front of me" Heather asked.

Jack's eyes shot up. They were likely above where Heather was. "Sweetheart, listen to me. I think we are literally above you – all you have to do is give me a few minutes _and stay where you are. I promise I'll find you_!" he insisted before hanging up the receiver. He climbed out of the helicopter. "Sgt. Ranwright! I'm gonna need a few of your men!" he yelled. Ranwright just-about made out what he was saying and nodded, scrambling to the back of the truck. Belcheck looked at him, curious. "We're gonna need some weapons. I think Heather is just below us!" Jack explained before looking back at the army truck.

Back underground and in one of the other ghost tunnels, Henderson was driving along at speed. He peered over at the navigation system, which was now displaying a dark-coloured map much like the one on the tracking system that he had used to keep an eye on an unsuspecting Cannavale. Within the short time that he had stopped the van he was driving, he had also taken the time to hack into the navigation system software so that he could follow Cannavale's movements on-the-go. And he smiled at what he saw on the system. "Excellent. Cannavale, you are doing exactly as I hoped you might do – if there's anyone who can lure Jack out of the city in time for Project Connaughton's grand introduction.. it's certainly you" he said to himself before turning his focus back to the long stretch of tunnel ahead of him.

–

08:08:45AM

 **White House Bunker**

"Alright, I'll tell him that he's on the line; but I still don't quite understand why he's calling us" Yanes spoke into his phone as he approached the bunker's main conference room, before knocking on the door. "Come!" Novick said without looking out, as the Secret Service agent walked in. "Sir, there's a call on line three for you. It's.. President Surarov" Yanes explained, noticing the surprised look on the faces of both the Acting President and Chloe. "Surarov? Why the devil is he calling?" Novick questioned. "He won't say; he'll only say in your eye-shot, sir" the Secret Service agent explained. Looking again at Chloe, Novick shrugged. "Alright, let's hear what he has to say" he agreed as he made his way towards the phone and pressed the option for line three, turning on the phone's speaker in the process. A few seconds went by before Yanes gave the signal. "This is Acting President Novick; how can I help you, Mr President?" the Acting President spoke. He heard a slight chuckle. " _Well, well.. Hello again, Mr Novick. What has it been, 10, 11 years since the signing of the anti-terrorism treaty?_ " Surarov asked pointedly, referring to the events surrounding the Sentox conspiracy when he and President Logan had signed the treaty even against the threat of Russian separatists wanting the treaty scrapped.

"I'm going to get to the point, sir – _you've called us at a critical time trying to capture your General so unless this is crucial.._ " Novick responded bluntly, wanting to get to the reason as to why the Russian President was contacting him. "My dear friend, this is crucial. You know as well as I do that Russia wants General Benediktov captured quickly. But I figured _you might want some help; as it stands, I have sent the Russian vessel Stalingrad to help with your salvage operation and I have also sent two of my top agents to assist Jack Bauer in capturing_ the General" the Russian President insisted and then explored. Novick looked at Yanes and then Chloe; he couldn't quite believe it. It was good they were getting help, but why hadn't Surarov notified them of this sooner? "Ok, well.. I appreciate that, sir. Thank you. But I have to ask why you didn't tell me this sooner?! _This has just come out of the blue and yet you expect us to be fine with it?_ " the Acting President responded. "I understand your frustrations on this, but the reason I neglected to tell any of you this sooner was in the event that _Benediktov got wind of my actions. Any indication that there was Russian involvement in the mission to capture him and he would have ran a mile!_ " Surarov insisted assuredly. Novick sighed in annoyance but he knew that the Russian President had a point.

"Ok, I can see where you are coming from, Mr President. Again, I thank you for Russia's involvement in this mission" he replied. " _No, no – the pleasure is all mine. We may have our differences,_ Mr Novick, but we want Benediktov in custody just as much as you and the Presidency and Jack Bauer do. I hope that you find him soon, let me know when you _have him_ " the Russian President responded before hanging up. As the sound of the dial tone filled the room, Novick looked towards Chloe. "Try and get back in touch with Jack. Tell him to expect outside help" he ordered, to which the former analyst nodded and set to work.

–

 **Washington DC**

But for what it was worth, Chloe was too late – as Jack had already spotted the mysterious helicopter settling down in the distance. It was something he didn't recognize, that Belcheck didn't recognize, that any of the army officers assigned to Jack and Ranwright didn't recognize. As the helicopter landed on the road, two figures emerged from the opening door and ran through the heavy rain towards the group. Jack looked back towards Ranwright, who could only shrug in confusion. "Mr Bauer?" one of the figures shouted in a Russian accent, which attracted the attention of both Jack and the Army Sergeant. Jack walked forward to face the two figures who came to a stop. "I'm Bauer – who the hell are you?" he said, slightly suspicious.

"My apologies, I'm Agent Alexei Ivanov and this is Agent Albina Sokolov. We're of the Russian Federal Security Service and we've been sent by President Surarov to assist you in the capture of General Benediktov" Ivanov introduced himself, the two agents showing off their badges in the process, and then explained. Jack was not expecting that. "Really? Well, forgive me if I don't believe me on this but why is this the first I'm hearing of in-person Russian assitance?" he asked, now really suspicious. Why would Surarov send help only now? "President Surarov apologizes for neglecting to inform you now, but he felt that considering the security leak you experienced earlier today, giving the presidency prior warning could potentially make it's way to Benediktov" Sokolov explained. Jack was still not convinced, especially by the justification given by the female agent – yes, there was a security leak in that Heller was convinced there was a mole in the Pentagon which actually turned out to be double-agent Virgil Cummings, but aside from that, their security was intact.

"Jack!" a voice called and all three people looked behind them to see Belcheck, phone pressed to his ear. "Chloe just told me; Surarov has literally just informed Novick that he's sent Russian agents to help us" the Serb mobster explained. Jack was taken aback by this, but if it was Novick that had been told, then he had no reason not to believe it. He looked back towards the Russian agents. "Alright, welcome onboard" he said albeit a little begrudgingly, before holding his hand out to shake. Ivanov took up the offer, followed by Sokolov, whilst Ranwright's radio buzzed to life. "This is Ranwright" he spoke into it, as Jack looked over his shoulder. "Got it, thank you. Jack! We better move back, they're in position!" the Sergeant explained as he put the radio back in it's holster. The former agent looked back towards the Russian agents. "We better move back, we're likely in the line of fire" he said quietly. "What line of fire? I can't see anything" Sokolov replied in confusion. But Jack was already moving backwards, the two agents following quickly. "Basically, before the helicopter crashed, I was contacted by a young girl. She's trapped somewhere under this road and we have to find a way of getting to her" he explained.

Ivanov frowned. "You're focusing on a girl when Benediktov is loose somewhere in the city?" he asked, concerned that Jack was potentially not taking the Benediktov situation seriously. Jack scoffed. "I'll have you know that we do know where the General is! He's right in there.." he insisted, pointing at the burning remains of Guardstrom HQ in the distance. "..and surprisingly, it turns out the girl I spoke to is trapped in a tunnel connected to the headquarters. We can't exactly go in from overground, can we?" he responded bluntly. Ivanov pulled a face, as he realized Jack did have a point. "Cover your ears.." Jack added quickly as he bought his hands to his ears. Both Russian agents followed suite and just in time, as a rocket smashed into the road and exploded. Sokolov looked up and spotted one of the officers assigned to Ranwright on top of a fairly built building, rocket launcher positioned on the edge and pointed down. Then, without wasting any time, the officer launched another rocket towards the ground. The rocket exploded and slowly but surely, the road began to cave in on itself. The tarmac collapsed and exposed what appeared to be a long stretch of tunnel underneath. "We're through! Jack, let's go!" Ranwright yelled before racing forward towards the large hole with Jack, Belcheck and the two Russian agents following suite.

Jack got to the hole first, peering inside before jumping into it. Landing on the rubble-like remains, he looked around and his eyes shot up in shock. He was standing somewhere in a long tunnel underneath Washington DC. This was something he was not expecting in the slightest. "Heather!" he shouted, his echoes reverberating along the dark tunnel walls. There was no reply. "HEATHER! ARE YOU DOWN HERE?!" he shouted again, this time even louder. "I'm down here.." a voice replied from behind Jack. He couldn't see anything at first but as he squinted, he swore he could have seen the remains of a van in the distance. "Found her! Follow me!" he shouted upwards before running down the tunnel, with Belcheck the first to follow and then the Russian agents. Jack ran as fast as he could, the outline of the van remains becoming clearer and clearer. But as he got closer, he quickly noticed the wrecked remains of the limo behind the van as well as another van and then a burnt-out vehicle that he couldn't recognize. "Heather!" he shouted again. "I'm here..." he heard a voice call and he ran to the right-hand side of the limo, peering inside and spotting the young Walkman. "It's alright, sweetheart.. I'm here. Can you climb out for me?" he assured her gently. Though clearly frightened, the teenager slowly started to make her way out of the limo and towards Jack.

Belcheck was first to arrive, noticing first the remains of the convoy and then the various bodies. "What the hell happened here?" he asked in shock. Heather looked up. "We.. we were attacked. Two men, but one of them double-crossed the other. He took my mom.." she slowly but bravely admitted, trying not to break down in tears. The Serb mobster looked around and moved to the left-hand side of the front van. He could see the bodies of all the various operatives, but then he saw one that caught his eye. He moved towards the figure, who was slowly waking up. "Hey! Hey, I got you. You alright?" he asked the figure, who groaned. "Ow.. aargh. What hit me?" he asked as he finally got to his feet. He moved his head upwards.. and Belcheck froze, slowly backing away. He had a look of complete horror on his face. "Wait.. now I remember. That scumbag Clarke completely double-crossed me!" the figure said in anger, now remembering. "Jack.. look" Belcheck said rather quietly but still loudly enough for the former agent to appear. He looked up from trying to comfort Heather... and froze himself. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. For there on the other side of the limo was General Andre Benediktov. The man they had been trying to stop for the last 12 hours and he was right there in front of them.

Of course there was the factor of what he was doing down in an underground tunnel to begin with to consider, but to both men, that was the last thing on their minds. Jack immediately ran forward and pulled his gun from his holster. "PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEAD AND INTERLOCK YOUR FINGERS!" he roared at the Russian, who immediately knew who he was facing. He smirked. "Jack Bauer.. you just won't stay dead, will you?" he said sarcastically. "I said...!" Jack roared once again. "..I know what you said. And believe me, I am doing it" Benediktov replied bluntly, putting his hands on his head and interlocking his fingers before getting on his knees. "Bauer! Is that..?" Jack turned around to see both Ivanov and Sokolov, guns raised and shocked expressions at seeing the man before them. "Yeah.. it's him!" he said, moving back to reveal the General. "Alert the American forces on the surface, we'll need back-up!" Sokolov ordered Ivanov in Russian, who promptly nodded and ran back down the tunnel.

The female agent moved closer towards Benediktov, whilst Belcheck moved backwards and sighed. He looked over at Jack, the two sharing a face of complete relief. General Benediktov, one of the deadliest threats that America had ever seen, had somehow finally been caught. But something felt off about it, like it had been too easier. Looking away and at the convoy of vehicles, the Serb mobster spotted something in the van behind the limo. Frowning, he opened the passenger door and pulled out a black book. He opened it up and examined the first page, his eyes widening in stunned silence. "Jack.. look at this!" he said, waiting until the former agent was looking back towards him before showing him the page. On it was a logo. A logo for Guardstrom. This convoy was a Guardstrom convoy. As various thoughts whizzed through Jack's mind, he looked back towards Heather who was looking at both him and Belcheck. "Sweetheart.. tell us your full name" he said uneasily. Heather looked confused. "Heather.. Heather Jasmine Walkman" she said slowly. Jack looked like he had been hit by a steam train. The confirmation of Heather's surname meant only one thing. "You obviously weren't travelling alone – your mother, where is she and what's her name?" Belcheck said quickly, knowing where this was going.

"My mom.. she's called Jordan Walkman.. as for where she is, you should ask him.." Heather replied, before pointing towards Benediktov. Jack was completely stunned. He had a feeling things had been too easy and this had just been proven to be true. He had to talk to Novick and fast. Things were far from over.

08:11:44AM

–

08:16:03AM

 **Washington DC**

As soon as Ivanov had alerted the Army personnel on the surface to the fact that they had found Benediktov below, over a dozen officers had practically fought their way down into the tunnel and towards the remains of the convoy. Six officers were guarding Benediktov like a hawk, whilst several others were trying to set up a live video feed not just for the White House Bunker but also for Moscow, so that President Surarov could officially identify General Benediktov. Heather was being looked over by Sokolov and another army officer, whilst Ranwright was with Jack and Belcheck by the far-right side of the front van, Jack holding a phone out.

" _So let me get this straight, Jack –_ we have Benediktov and we have some slight evidence of Guardstrom's involvement in today's events but now you're telling me we have another potential threat to the country on our hands and this person has President Walkman as a hostage as well?" Novick said incredulously, his voice being heard by all three men via the speaker-option. Shortly after confirming who Heather was, the two had gotten as much information as they could from the teenage girl – they had learnt that Benediktov had been double-crossed by a dark-skinned man that had taken a briefcase belonging to the Russian General before making his escape with Walkman. They had tried to find out from the General what was in the briefcase, but he had decided to take a vow of silence for whatever reason, which certainly did not help matters. "That's pretty much everything summed up, sir" Jack responded. " _Right.. and you've tried to get Benediktov to tell you what was in the briefcase?_ " the Acting President continued. "We have – _he just won't talk to us, no matter what we try. He probably won't say unless it's under interrogation_ " Belcheck explained. Novick gritted his teeth. "Well, he'll be facing President Surarov soon enough. Maybe he'll _change his mind about staying silent then_ " Yanes said hopefully.

"I honestly won't think he will, Mr President. This man may be dangerous, but he's not stupid. I doubt he _won't risk saying anything incriminating unless there's a benefit to him_ " Jack insisted. He may have only seen the Russian General face-to-face for only a few minutes but he knew he simply was not stupid. After all, he had hijacked a submarine, attacked various American military vessels, abandoned and sunk the submarine and even managed to make it to Guardstrom HQ all without getting caught. "Well, we'll find out in a minute, Jack – Surarov is ready to identify the General" Chloe said. Not wanting to miss this, Jack hung up the phone and headed over to where the laptops had been set up. He made his way through the circle of officers guarding Benediktov and positioned himself next to the Russian, just as the static on the laptops faded away and were replaced by the video feeds, one of Novick and one of Surarov. Benediktov's expression, originally stoic and emotionless, suddenly changed at the sight of the Russian President. He thought he had been killed in the attack on the Kremlin that he had been shown. "Impossible.." he said so quietly it was barely a whisper. " _Well, Mr President?_ " Novick said. He was convinced this was the man but it all depended on what Surarov said.

" _This is him. The man in the custody of your military, Mr Novick, is indeed General Benediktov_ " the Russian President effectively confirmed and the soldiers all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Jack looked down with a slightly dark smile at Benediktov, who said nothing – they finally had him. Waiting for the men in the tunnel to stop, Novick made his move. " _Mr President, even if this man is a Russian national,_ because the majority of crimes committed were against American forces or on US soil.." he started to respond, only for the Russian President to reply but not in the way everyone was expecting. " _.. you would want the General to stand trial and possible execution in America? Was that what you wanted to say, Mr Novick, because I was going to say that I approve of your notion_ " Surarov explained. Everyone stopped. "I'm sorry, did you just say..?" Jack said and tailed off, shocked at what he had heard. " _That I'm happy for Benediktov to be prosecuted in America? Yes, I did say that, Bauer._ Because frankly, the Russian government wants nothing more to do with this man. We are washing our hands of him, we don't care and I certainly don't care what you _do to him! Life without parole, capital punishment, it's up to your government Mr Novick!_ " the Russian president declared. Jack's shock slowly turned into complete delight. Benediktov was going to face justice for all the crimes he had committed against America, for killing all the innocent people he had murdered on his way to the city, for everything he had done since taking the submarine nearly 24 hours ago. Justice awaited at long last.

" _I would like to say something more, Mr Novick – I have a few words for the man in front of me_!" Surarov added. "Of course.." Novick said, at first a little surprised but then fully understanding. The Russian President leant in cross to the screen and glared angrily at Benediktov before starting to talk in Russian – only the two agents, Jack, Belcheck and the General could understand what he was saying. "You... you, Benediktov – if you weren't already a complete disgrace to your country, you most certainly are now! _I don't care what you think of America, but what you've done today is completely unforgivable – this is one of our allies and I have every reason to believe that you would have nearly pushed us to the brink of war if not for the efforts of Bauer!_ " he hissed coldly, his tone of voice taking both Russian agents by surprise. Benediktov just sat unflinchingly silent throughout hearing Surarov rip into them. " _I have nothing more to say – other than you should have a good long look at yourself. You've ruined what's left of your life and I would say it's going to be very hard for you to gain any sort of redemption_ " the Russian President finished and would have shut off the feed had the General not spoken up. "How.. how are you here, Mr President? The attack on the Kremlin, how could you...?" he said slowly, still shocked at how he was looking at the President through a screen in spite of what he had been told three hours previous. Everyone looked confused. " _I don't know what your sources are, General, but there has not been an attack on Russia today or the last few days.. and I honestly hope for your sake, that is not your defence!_ " Surarov snapped back, unimpressed by the response given to him, before promptly shutting off the feed

As static appeared on the laptop screen, Jack moved to close the laptop and looked at the other laptop with Novick on it. "I'll be at the White House soon, sir. Gonna try and get something out of the General" he explained. " _Fine by me, Jack_ " the Acting President nodded as the feed was turned off. Closing the laptop, the former agent turned towards the group of soldiers. "Take Benediktov to the surface, load him up ready for transport" he said, not looking at the Russian General as he spoke. Not needing to be told twice, two of the soldiers moved towards the General and pulled him to his feet – before grabbing hold of each of his arms and beginning to escort him into the circle of soldiers. As the collective group made their way down the tunnel, Benediktov suddenly spoke up again. "The briefcase is full of launchers!" he declared. Jack, who had been turned away from him, stopped and looked back over his shoulder, walking towards the group. "Launchers for what?" he asked, curious as to why the Russian was speaking up only now. "Launchers for the remaining ballistic missiles on the Yuri Dolgorukiy. Provided the target is in appropriate range, the missiles can be launched before anyone realizes.." Benediktov replied finally and Jack froze up. He remembered Heather telling him that the man who double-crossed the General had taken a briefcase. "The man who double-crossed you and took the briefcase.. who was he?" the former agent asked.

Eyeing up the former agent, Benediktov gave a sly smile. "I can do more than that, Bauer.. I can tell you quite a few things that should be able to help you. And I can assure you that you are correct – things are far from over!" he declared. Jack looked at him, wondering if he could trust what the man was going to say.

–

 **Baltimore**

Following the map on the navigation system closely, Cannavale looked back ahead and quickly he noticed that he was coming to the end of the tunnel. How he knew this? On the basis that 15 seconds in front of him, there was a large ramp heading upwards. As the front wheels of the van touched the ramp, two steel doors that were blocking the way upwards slowly opened up and exposed the Virginia countryside on the surface – Cannavale drove the van up the ramp and he emerged on a large stretch of countryside road. He looked back at the navigation system and smiled. "I'm right where I hoped I would be.." he said to himself as he pulled out his phone. Typing in a number, he waited as the phone rang and promptly went to voicemail. "Hey, it's me. It went to voicemail so I can only presume you're in position. I'll be with you guys in about 15 to 20 minutes" he explained before hanging up and starting up the engine once more. He was nearly there.

Within the city, meanwhile and very close to the water, there was the Port of Baltimore which was a shipping port along the shores and branches of one of Baltimore's rivers. Under normal circumstances and as a result of the thunderstorm, the port would have been closed off to ships – but to the surprise of the port commander, a Matthew Smith, the commanding officer of a ship known only as the "Delta Vigo" had personally contacted Smith to request docking at the port for they had a vital cargo that needed unloading straight away. Smith hadn't been convinced at first but finally he relented. If the cargo was indeed vital, he couldn't just ignore the ship and it's crew, so he had given the go-ahead for the "Delta Vigo" to dock at the Port.

Smith emerged from his office and walked over to where the ship was now docked. The port-workers had gotten to work making sure that the ship was securely tied down and that the crew had some stairs to walk down from onto the portside itself – at last, the ship crew-members emerged out into the open and from what Smith could see, there were five of them. A white tall man with a beard and who looked like he was the leader of the pack, an African-American man, a younger man who looked Hispanic, a Chinese woman and a man holding a pair of glasses in his hand who appeared to be Turkish. He walked forward towards the bearded man. "Good morning to you all! I'm the port commander and you are..?" he shouted over the rain, holding his hand out. The bearded man took up the offer. "Good morning to you too! I'm Burgess, behind me you have Williams, Torres, Li and Jackson" the man, calling himself Burgess, explained before pointing out his crew in the order that Smith had seen them come off the ship.

Smith nodded to them all. "So where's this cargo that needs desperately unloading? Just tell me which container it is and I'll get the crew to start unload..." he started before he looked up and stopped – it had only just hit him that the ship the five people did not have a container of any kind in sight. He frowned but he was then pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a gun-shot. He looked up and followed the sound of the shot, watching in horror as one of his own crew-members slumped towards the ground. But before he could do anything else, Burgess had pulled his arm around his neck and pointed a gun up against his head. "ALRIGHT! HERE IS WHAT'S GOING ON – you do as we say, you won't get hurt! One of our men is currently en-route to this location and we're not leaving until he's safely onboard. Any one of you try to do one over us or alert the cops and your port commander joins the casualty list I'm sure you've all heard about!" the bearded man declared as his followers pulled out guns and pointed them everywhere. Smith found his voice. "Just do what they say! They'll be gone soon enough" he urged his men.

Burgess smiled. "Good choice" he replied, just as the man that had been called Jackson appeared behind them. "Sir... I've only just received contact from A.G. He's en-route, permission to re-board and reply?" he explained, though what hit Smith was that Jackson had an incredibly forced Georgian accent. Smith was Atlanta-born and raised and the accent attempt he was hearing was frankly awful, though not that Burgess realized. "Go right ahead, tell him we've arrived" the leader nodded in approval as Jackson left. Walking up the stairs back to the ship, Jackson put his glasses back on and pulled out a disposable phone from his pocket as he walked back under shelter. Looking both ways and checking for any bugs, he entered a number into the phone and pressed the dial button. It took about ten seconds, but finally the number picked up. "This is Mustafa Gumushan reporting in" he said, suddenly dropping the Georgian accent and speaking naturally, now with a Cyprian accent. " _You're late, Gumushan. We expected your hourly report at 08:00 hours_ " a female voice replied rather sternly. "My apologies, Ma'am. I got a bit held up – but I can officially confirm to you that we've made landfall. Cannavale's crew are directly below me on the port and the big man himself is en-route to our location and ready to blow the port to kingdom come" the man now called Gumushan reported, as he pulled another phone out from his pocket. " _I see – and Burgess hasn't suspected a thing yet?_ " the woman replied inquisitively and her stern tone of voice softening.

"Not yet – he's smart but he he still thinks I'm Nigel Jackson from Atlanta in Georgia and not Mustafa Gumushan from Famagusta in Northern Cyprus" he reported, relief in his voice. " _Good, the last thing we need is Cannavale and Burgess realizing they have a mole in their crew. How long until Cannavale arrives?_ " the woman said as Gumushan looked out of the window at his "crew-mates". "Not long, but he said he had to do something before they could all leave for Vancouver. Not sure what exactly but considering it's Cannavale, it can't be good – all I can say at this minute" the Cyprian man explained. " _True – well, if you think something's going to go down, you know what to do. I'm not sure how quick we'll be able to get there because of what's been going on in DC, but try and hold them off for as long as you can_ " the woman insisted. "Will do. Anyhow, got to go or Burgess will really suspect something's off" Gumushan replied before hanging up. Placing the disposable phone out of immediate sight, he took the other phone and began writing rapidly on it. "We are at port. Burgess says when you arrive, do what you need to do and then we can get out of here" he said out loud before hitting the send button.

Shaking his head, he started his walk back towards the stairs down to the port.

–

 **Washington DC**

For the second time in less than ten minutes, Jack was back in front of a laptop video feed with Novick. " _...and you believe him, Jack?_ " the Acting President said in surprise. Jack inwardly sighed. "I do, yes. Let's face it, sir, Benediktov knows things we don't and I think we have to take a chance with what he knows" he admitted. He, Belcheck and the Russian agents had all listened to what Benediktov had had to say – and backed up with what Heather had told them, they now had reason to believe that the Russian was telling the truth, that there was another potential threat to the city in Cannavale.

Novick still didn't look convinced. "Sir, all I need Chloe to do is check the working security system footage and find some visual evidence of whoever this man is! If Heather saw him as well, _it's worth a shot at least.._ " Jack reasoned. Novick looked across at Chloe, who was still looking through the security footage with Kim to check just which cameras were still operational. "Alright, Jack. It's worth a shot – Chloe?" the Acting President relented. "Way ahead of you, sir – rewinding the working cameras back to 50 minutes ago, Jack!" the former analyst set to work. Back in the tunnel, Jack turned back towards Benediktov, under guard by Ivanov and Sokolov, who would have been standing cross-armed if not for the fact he was handcuffed. "You better be telling the truth to us.." he said coldly. But the Russian merely gave a smug smile. "If I recall, you openly told the President that you believed the girl as well and she backed me up.." he pointed out wisely. Jack simply glared at him before he turned towards Heather, who was sitting with Belcheck on the bonnet of one of the vans. "I'm gonna need you in a few minutes, sweetheart. We need you to help us out and identify someone for you, can you do that?" he asked her, sympathetic. He felt sorry for the girl as she had been through quite a bit in the last hour or so – but she was one of only two people within the tunnel who had seen what Cannavale looked like and as such, they needed her.

"Alright, if it helps find my mom.." the teenager responded, literally just seconds before Chloe shouted as loud as she could through the laptop. "Jack! We've got a potential match!" she yelled, which got everyone's attention. Jack, Belcheck and Heather raced towards the computer, whilst the two Russian agents escorted Benediktov forwards. "Alright, show us what you got, Chloe" Jack insisted as the former analyst appeared on the screen. " _Open up the other laptop and you'll get to see – the screen-grab is still going through the database_ but we should have something soon" Chloe insisted, having found the camera that recorded Mack's temporary encounter with Cannavale shortly after the mercenary had killed Fremaux and taken the controls for Project Connaughton. From there, the former analyst had managed to get a screen-grab of Cannavale's face and was running it through the database in the hopes of getting a match. The opened laptop came to life, as a series of photos went by at such a quick speed that it was impossible for anyone following it to identify them. Finally, the photos came to a stop and pulled out a mugshot of a dark-skinned man. " _We should have names in a minute, Jack!_ " Chloe added as the former agent looked back. "Is this the man you two saw?" he asked Benediktov and Heather.

As Heather looked over the photo, she froze up. "That's.. that's him.. the man who took my mom" she slowly confirmed. Jack looked over at the Russian General. "The girl is correct; that is the very person who double-crossed me" he backed up Heather calmly. Jack started to face the laptops, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Kim. " _Dad, it's me! I'm sorry to interrupt.. but this guy, whoever he is, that's the man who kidnapped me in New Jersey!_ " she explained. Jack froze up as he looked over at the photo. Now he was really hoping that Chloe would find the right details for whoever this guy; if they ever found him, he was going to do things to him that he wished he would never have. No-one abducted his only flesh and blood and lived to tell the tale. "Chloe, this is the guy! If we've got three positive ID's on him.." Jack insisted, now confident this was their man. " _Got it, background coming up_ now" Chloe finished typing on her own laptop before pressing enter – on both her laptop and the second laptop within the tunnel, the details appeared on-screen. "Right, his name is Andrew-Gomez Cannavale, AG for short. Born in 1973 to Surinamese parents _and with American citizenship since 1998. He does have a criminal record but only for petty theft and nothing since 2001.._ " she finished, though sounding rather uneasy at this. Jack was surprised; whilst it was entirely possible this guy cleaned up his act, he was not fully convinced. "Chloe, are you sure on that?" he asked but before the former analyst could reply, Benediktov waded in. "He's a mercenary, that's why you can't find any recorded criminal acts. You should know as well as I do, Bauer, that mercenaries ALWAYS leave behind a blank slate" he pointed out.

Jack let out a big sigh. "He's right, Mr President. At present, we have to assume this Cannavale is a mercenary" he conceded. " _I'm happy to believe that, Jack, but_ it doesn't quite answer the question of what he was doing in that particular room to begin with.." Novick countered and once again, Benediktov waded in. " _Cannavale was with me when the building was attacked, as you know._ The reason we allied together was because he had a grudge against Walkman as did I – but he also said that he was after something that Walkman had created. _He said it was some kind of super-weapon, something that could destroy even my submarine.._ " he explained. Literally the minute that the General had mentioned the word "super-weapon", the alarm bells for Chloe, Novick and Jack had started ringing. " _Chloe, that video camera you found of Cannavale, check through it_! We might be onto something.." Jack ordered and the former analyst didn't need to be told twice, pulling up the footage and sending it into reverse. Literally five seconds ticked by before the camera bought up a new scenario. The guy that Cannavale had found, he was now standing next to a new figure that she hadn't seen before. She watched the footage, which saw the new figure swing a katana into the body of the guy Cannavale had found. She quickly froze it, managing to catch the new figure's face in the process.

–

08:22:19AM

"Jack, I just found something! _Someone I've never seen before and it looks like he's got a briefcase.._ " she explained, as Jack grabbed the laptop. He was trying to identify the figure but even he hadn't seen him before. "Look at the footage some more, _see if you can find out what's in the briefcase.._ " he requested. Taking a screen-grab of the new figure's face, she pulled up the database and inserted the photo into the system before returning to the footage. She threw it into reverse once again and pressed play, watching the figure move towards a briefcase hanging on the edge of a massive hole.

Chloe didn't notice anything really out of the ordinary until she spotted the figure picking up the briefcase and briefly looking at it before closing it shut – again throwing the footage into reverse, she watched the figure look at the briefcase. Pausing it, she could make out what looked like a set of controls. Controls for something, like a super-weapon... "Jack, we might have a new lead! Whoever this person is, _he may have the controls for the super-weapon. I think it exists!_ " she almost screamed out. "Are you running the figure you saw through the database?" the former agent replied, jumping on what Chloe was saying and running with it. " _Yeah – in fact, it's just come back with something!_ " Chloe insisted as she bought up the database screen, Jack following it through the laptop in interest. After some more scanning of photos, one was pulled up. A shot of a clean-shaven man. Jack frowned. He looked familiar but he couldn't put a finger on the photo. " _Do you know who he is, Chloe?_ He looks familiar but I don't know where.." he asked. " _I've never seen him before myself_ but we should get some answers soon enough" Chloe responded, waiting for the details to come up. Finally, they appeared.

"His name's Jeremy Henderson – government employee during the presidencies of Logan, Palmer and the _first six months of Taylor_ " Chloe explained. Jack looked over the details. He seemed familiar and then a thought struck him. He really hoped that what he was thinking, he would be proven wrong on. "Search up this Henderson's family – parents, siblings, anything" he ordered. Chloe set to work, entering "family" into the search-engine attached to the profile. It took several seconds until finally, it came up with a match. Two photos came up, of what looked like older people. A man and a woman. Christopher and Miriam Henderson. Jack stared at the laptop in disbelief, as did Chloe in the bunker. They had looks of horror on their faces, they both knew who the older man was. " _My god.. Mr President, tell me you recognize the older man.._ " Jack said very quietly. Novick peered over at Chloe's laptop and as soon as he saw the photo of the man, he froze. He did indeed recognize the man. They were dealing with the son of Christopher Henderson. The same Christopher Henderson that had been one of Jack's mentors in his early days at CTU Los Angeles. The same Christopher Henderson that had been exposed in an anti-corruption scheme and had been forced to resign as a result. The SAME Christopher Henderson that had been a part of the Sentox conspiracy and had been the one to order the murder of Novick's close friend, former President David Palmer.

And now it looked like his son was following in his footsteps. "I do, Jack.. _didn't even know Henderson had a son_ " Novick admitted. As Jack walked away from the laptop, the photos of all three Hendersons became noticeable to Benediktov. And he spied the name, his eyes immediately going up. "Well I'll be – so that's what the bastard looks like.." he scoffed. Everyone looked towards him. "You.. you know Henderson?" Jack said in complete surprise. "I do.. when I was making my way towards the East Coast of America, I was in contact with a man who called himself Henderson. Spoke with a gruff voice and spoke quite a bit about wanting revenge against you, Bauer. He never said why though, mind.." the General explained. Jack looked away, deep in thought. Revenge against him. It most likely had to be with the former agent killing Christopher Henderson all those years ago.

" _Jack? What are you thinking?_ " Novick asked through the laptop. The former agent was deep in thought – and would have replied if not for Heather suddenly interrupting. "Hang on a second, I just remembered!" she spluttered out and she moved towards the wrecked remains of the limo. Peering in, she pulled out the briefcase and opened it out, pulling out the iPad-like screen with the dot that had been moving towards the top of the screen. "I was given this, I think the dot might be my mom's tracker.." she explained, handing it to Jack who examined the screen. The dot was still slowly moving upwards. Pressing down on the screen, the former agent zoomed in and a series of details appeared on the screen, including what looked like a reference number. "Chloe, I need you to check out this reference. We might have a lead on where Cannavale and Walkman are – _39.227223_ " he explained, Chloe typing it in on the laptop. Pressing enter, she waited as a map was bought up. "The reference checks out – _it's on the outskirts of Baltimore_ " she explained. Jack frowned once again. "If Walkman's in Baltimore, then that must be where Cannavale is; but why is he going there?" he pointed out.

"Of course... that's why he's going there!" Benediktov suddenly said out loud. Everyone looked at him again. "When we were trying to find Guardstrom HQ, I asked what he was going to do once he had what he needed – he had a feeling he wasn't going to get away from me that easier but he said he was planning to meet some friends at the Port of Baltimore, escape up to Vancouver and watch the carnage unfold.." he explained. Jack's blood ran cold. He was trying to flee the country with Walkman and the missile launchers! If he fired even one of those missiles at the country or any other country, the consequences would be massive and it was likely no-one was going to believe a makeshift government or a disgraced General or even Jack himself; the country would instantly consider the whole thing an attack by Russia and World War Three, which had just barely been averted when Jack captured and killed Cheng Zhi, would be a very likely scenario. He sighed as he knew what he had to say next. He knew Novick was not going to like it. "Sir.. I have a proposal and I wouldn't be making it if I didn't think it necessary" he started. Novick rose an eyebrow through the screen. "If we're gonna stand a chance of catching Cannavale or this Henderson.. we are going to have to form an alliance with General Benediktov!" he finished.

Everything in both the bunker and the tunnel stopped. Even Benediktov was not expecting to hear what Jack had just said. "Jack.. please don't tell me you just said what I think you said?!" Novick said, both in bewilderment and anger. One of the best agents the country had ever seen had just proposed an alliance with the very man who had committed a list of crimes as long as someone's arm whilst fighting his way to the capital city of the United States of America. " _Believe me, I'm not a fan of it, sir! But Benediktov_ knows things we don't know and we don't have time to interrogate him. We need to involve him in capturing both Henderson and Walkman" Jack insisted, but quickly found opposition from even Chloe. " _Jack, normally I'd support anything you say_ but this is just a step too far! Benediktov is a terrorist and allying with one is not a good idea!" she countered, just before the conversation was interrupted.

" _Mr Novick, if I may say something.._ " Benediktov said calmly. The Acting President looked at the General uneasily before finally nodding in approval. " _I have nothing to lose from assisting Bauer..._ and in fact, I have a proposal for you all. If I am allowed to assist in the capture of Cannavale.. _then I will willingly admit to every single crime I have committed since landing on the island of Greenland_ " he added on. Chloe and Novick looked up at the screen in surprise, whilst Jack stared at the General – he had certainly not expected to hear what he had just heard. A few minutes ago, he was keeping eerily silent with regards to the questions he was being asked – now he was offering to admit to EVERYTHING he had done and in exchange for being allowed to help? He had heard some things in his life but this certainly took the biscuit. "Really? You're going to admit to everything? No strings attached?" the former agent replied. Benediktov looked back at him. "Yes, no strings attached. I may hate this country but I can see clearly that things have gotten out of hand – I must confess that the reason I abandoned the submarine and attacked Guardstrom was all based on a lie. I had been told that Moscow had been attacked on the orders of Walkman but clearly.." he said calmly.

Jack thought about it – it was possible that the Russian was showing remorse for what he did. The events of the last three hours had been based on a lie and it could have been all avoided. "Mr President.. _I think he's telling the truth. I have no reason to doubt him.._ " he admitted. Novick looked at Kim and then Yanes and then Chloe. He sighed. If it helped end the events of today and helped bring down Cannavale and this mysterious Henderson.. "Alright. Alright.. _If an alliance with Benediktov is what we need, I won't stand in the way.._ " he agreed uneasily. "If needs-be, sir, the two Russian agents sent by Surarov – _they can act as escorts in a way. Make sure I do what I need to do_ " the General added quickly, pointing to Ivanov and Sokolov. They had been watching the conversation with interest and were taken aback when the General suggested they join the hunt for the two new threats. Novick indicated to Jack to move back so that he could look at the agents. " _Well?_ " he asked. "If.. if it's what you want, Mr Novick, we'll help gladly" Sokolov agreed.

" _Then it's settled – Jack,_ you and Belcheck need to stop Cannavale before he can get out of the country. I'll send a helicopter near to where you both landed so you can head for Baltimore immediately. If you need anything, just let me know!" Novick declared before shutting down the laptop. Not wasting a second, Jack looked back at the large group. "You heard the President, let's get to work!" he ordered and everyone moved into action, whether it be packing up the equipment or heading back to the hole in the road not far from them.

–

 **North Atlantic Ocean**

The dark clouds above the ocean were slowly starting to fade away, but they were still dark enough to mask the presence of Project Connaughton as the super-weapon raced through the skies above the ocean. The spinning sphere on the underneath of the super-weapon suddenly turned sharply forward. " _Testing area in sight. Beginning descent_ " the computer-like voice on Project Connaughton suddenly declared as the super-weapon began to fly downwards out of the clouds and towards the ocean beneath it.

At the bottom of the ocean, meanwhile, a new set of divers were approaching the sunken remains of the Yuri Dolgorukiy, some divers holding on to what appeared to be strong cables. " _Be careful with how you do this, Chenkosky – Commander Robinson has informed me that the missiles are still live and still capable of being launched_ " Trokishan said in Russian, through the earpiece that one of the divers was wearing. "Roger that. I'll tell the men not to do anything that could set them off" Chenkosky confirmed, also speaking in his native language, before signalling to his fellow divers and pointing down at the hatch covering the ballistic missiles. This was all the divers needed to see as they got the message pretty quickly – one diver who had been about to attach his cable to quite close to the missile hatch pulling it up and instead moving closer inward to the submarine, near the open hatch and as far away from the missile hatch as he could go. He got the cable hooked into place and gave the thumbs up signal to Chenkosky.

On the bridge of the Albany, Commander Robinson looked out at the Stalingrad and then at the heavy-duty equipment. Commander Trokishan and Commander Gibson on the Olympia had been keeping him up to date with how her divers were doing and so far, apart from having to move the cables so that they weren't going to potentially set off the remaining missiles, things seemed to be going well. Hopefully with a bit of luck, they could have the submarine on the surface between 9am and 10am. But something still felt off to the Commander as he looked out at the remaining vessels on the ocean bed. "Something wrong, sir?" a voice asked and Robinson looked over his shoulder to see Higley standing behind him. Seconds went by as he tried to find the words with which to answer. "I.. I just... something feels off and I don't know why" he admitted. The radio operator simply rose an eyebrow. "It's the missiles! Even though there's no-one onboard the submarine that could still be alive, two of those missiles still launched out of nowhere! How do you explain that?" Robinson continued. At that depth of the ocean, no-one could still be in a good enough condition to even keep conscious let alone fire two missiles.

"I don't know, sir. But I am sure there's a justified reason for why it happened, maybe it was just pre-programmed settings" Higley attempted to point out. "Well.. maybe. You don't know until you find out something concrete. Speaking of which, what happened to those missiles we saw?" Robinson asked. "I just checked in with the White House. They were safely destroyed over the city before any damage could be done. And don't ask me how, but Jack found Benediktov shortly after landing!" Higley revealed, which caught the commander's attention. "Yeah; shortly after landing on American soil, he found General Benediktov in a tunnel underneath the city! He's been officially identified as the man we're after!" he explained further, which caused Robinson to sigh in relief. "That's brilliant – if anything, it means everything is all over. The submarine's been stopped and we finally have Benediktov in custody. As soon as we've got the submarine off the ocean bed, it's all done" he replied. "But at great cost as well.. lost count at how many people have died in the last three hours" Higley pointed out mournfully.

"Well, that is true. In all my years in the military, son, this is one of the worst days I've ever seen. Worse than 1993 in New York or 1996 in Atlanta. I'd say it's up there with 9/11 and what the hell was happening in DC with Starkwood about 7 years ago.. but what will define us is how we cope, how we deal with everything that's happened. Honestly, I don't know how the hell Jack copes with everything he's been through, the poor bastard. I wouldn't want to be in his..." Robinson explained before stopping. He looked out of the window in all directions. "Pass me the binoculars" he ordered and Higley handed them to him, curious. Using the binoculars, the Commander again looked out of the window in all directions before stopping. "What the hell..?" he said again. For coming down towards the ship convoy at an incredible speed was Project Connaughton. Robinson immediately moved towards the radio and picked up the receiver. "Olga, are you seeing this?" he asked the Commander of the Stalingrad. " _Yes – I can see it alright._ I've never seen it before.." Trokishan admitted as she held up her own binoculars. " _Me neither. Certainly doesn't look American or Russian.._ " the Commander on the Albany confessed. No-one knew what it was.

As the super-weapon edged closer and closer to the ocean surface, a panel on the left-hand wing opened up – revealing five long-range missiles. " _Beginning test of weapon_ " the computer-like voice declared and within seconds, one of the missiles was launched straight towards the Albany. Higley was first to see it. "THEY'VE FIRED ON US, CLEAR THE BRIDGE..." he desperately shouted, an act that proved to be the last thing he ever did as the ship instantly exploded in a massive fireball, taking the bridge with it. Trokishan covered her eyes as the fireball lit up the window on the Stalingrad. "We're under attack, get the divers back to the surface NOW!" she screamed whilst watching the super-weapon fly back into the sky. But then it turned sharply to the left as it did and then started to fly back downwards – the Stalingrad now in it's line of fire. This time, a panel on the right-hand wing opened up to reveal multiple rockets and as the Russian vessel came closer, the super-weapon fired.

Unlike Higley who had time to alert his fellow crewmembers to the imminent danger, Trokishan stood no chance as the rocket slammed into the vessel almost immediately and exploded. The entire Stalingrad went up in a ball of fire and exploded spectacularly, all whilst Project Connaughton flew above the burning wreck and back into the sky. As for the ship carrying the heavy-duty equipment, the crewmembers onboard scrambled about, knowing the impending danger and knowing they had to get out of the weapon's line of fire. On the bridge, a petty officer immediately began to retract the cables not knowing that one of them had already been properly attached to the Yuri Dolgorukiy. As the cables immediately began to move upwards, one struggled and strained as it tried to take the Russian vessel up with it. Chenkosky could see this and frowned in disbelief. He looked up towards the surface, only to see what looked like fire above the water. He started to make his way upwards. But above the surface, meanwhile, Project Connaughton was flying closer and closer to the ship carrying the equipment – and this time, a panel behind the spinning sphere and on the main body of the super-weapon opened up to reveal an automatic grenade launcher. Timing the shot, the super-weapon then fired and flew back into the sky, the ship exploding soon after. The metal on the ship began to buckle and strain as the vessel began to fall onto its side.

The weapon moved sharply to the left once more as it headed upwards towards the dark clouds. Chenkosky emerged from the water and floated on the surface as he looked around in stunned silence. In the last minute or so, something had attacked the remaining ships – what attacked them was a mystery. But as he looked upwards, he spotted Project Connaughton flying into the clouds. "What the hell was that?" he said to himself in Russian. He looked around one last time before diving back into the depths. He needed to alert the Olympia and get everyone on the submarine and quickly.

08:30:04AM

–

08:33:12AM

 **Washington DC**

Everyone who had been inside the tunnel had finally made their way back up to the surface – and Jack was standing with Ranwright, walking towards the helicopter where Belcheck, Benediktov and the two Russian agents. "I'm sorry Jack, but I don't understand; why don't you want the pilots to take you to the Port?" the Army Sergeant asked. The former agent stopped. "Because I don't want to put any of your men at risk, sir – I know it sounds crazy but you need all the men you can get. Besides, Belcheck has experience piloting a helicopter and so does Ivanov" he tried to reason, pointing to the helicopter. Peering in, the Sergeant could certainly see the Russian agent and the Serb mobster starting up the aircraft's rotors. "Look, I need to go – if we don't leave soon, we could miss Cannavale by only a few minutes" he pointed out. Ranwright relented and Jack moved to head towards the open door of the helicopter, only to be stopped by a lieutenant who had been assigned to Heather. "Sir! I know you need to leave, but this young lady is insistent that she has to go with you to the Port.." she explained, looking down at the unhappy teenager.

Jack knelt down until he was closer to her height, sympathizing. "I know this is your mom we're trying to find, sweetheart, but I don't want to put you at risk for no reason" he tried to justify. But Heather wasn't impressed. "That's how you want to put it? I was put at risk for no reason when HE attacked us!" she angrily retorted, pointing inside the helicopter at General Benediktov. "AND I know where my mom is as well – it's all well and knowing that she's near the Port of Baltimore but I want to be there when you find her!" she continued. Jack could clearly see that she wanted to help and he sighed. "Alright, climb apart" he relented and Heather immediately climbed into the helicopter, himself following. As he closed the door, he could see Belcheck looking at him and then at Heather. "I told her she could come – after all, we are going after the person who kidnapped her mother" he responded. The Serb mobster rose an eyebrow but said nothing as he turned his focus back to the controls.

No sooner had Jack sat down, then the helicopter's wheels left the ground and the whole aircraft began to move upwards. "Right, we're gonna fly at the maximum speed this thing can give us; we should be at the Port just after 08:50 hours. Hang on tight" Ivanov declared as the helicopter raced away from where it had taken off and flew north, out of the city centre. Jack felt a little uneasy at having to leave DC and the President for the second time in just four hours but if they could find Cannavale, then he might have a lead on this Henderson that they could follow. They had to pursue every opportunity that presented themselves to them.

Underneath the city and in one of the other ghost tunnels, the van that Henderson was driving came to a halt in front of what appeared to be a large brick wall – and the man himself climbed out of the driver's seat. He of course had come across a brick wall that opened up over an hour ago before the attack on Guardstrom HQ and whilst it was highly unlikely that there would be another one, it wouldn't hurt to check. Feeling the wall in various spots, he came to the conclusion there was likely not one. Heading back to the van, Henderson checked the navigation system to check he was indeed at his final destination and he was. He was underneath the White House and in a prime position to attack.

Jack Bauer was being led on a wild goose chase out of DC by an unsuspecting Cannavale and the Acting President was likely deep underground where he wouldn't be able to suspect a thing. He moved to the back of the van and opened the doors, looking at the E.M.P bomb before him. He had plenty of knowledge of electronics, so he knew how to start up the countdown for the bomb and he also knew he had to get quite a distance away from the bomb so that the controls wouldn't be affected when the bomb went off. If he could make it over the Potomac, everything would be alright and the controls unaffected from the bomb going off. He checked the time, 08:36:14AM. He would set the bomb to go off at 08:54 hours. Turning everything on, he set the device and the bomb armed – and then started to tick down. Closing the doors, Henderson ran back down the tunnel. He had seen what looked like a ladder a few minutes back and if he wanted to avoid being caught when the bomb went off, he would have to run like crazy.

–

 **Port of Baltimore**

At the main gates for the port, the van being driven by Cannavale pulled up – and the driver frowned. He would have thought that someone would have opened the gates up for him by now. But literally only a few seconds later, the gate began to open and he spotted a port-worker pushing it to the left, whilst being ordered to at gunpoint by the only woman on his crew, Li. She looked up through the gates at the van and smiled, knowing that the leader of the pack was finally here. Starting up the van engine once more, Cannavale drove into the port proper and through several stacks of containers before he finally spotted Burgess ahead. The bearded man looked up at the approaching van and his expression changed, throwing Smith into the arms of another port-worker – though Williams and Torres still held their guns up whilst Gumsuhan simply watched. Inside, he was delighted. The leader had arrived.

Cannavale bought the van to a stop and emerged from the van, though not without forgetting to pick up the briefcase of remote missile launchers. He looked ahead at Burgess and smiled, throwing himself into a silent hug with Burgess. "I've missed you guys, I really have – working undercover for that New Jersey gang was nightmarish to say the least!" he declared as he released himself from the hug, making sure to give mention to the group that he had been a part of around 12 hours previously. "I get that, A.G. But you had to find some way of getting close to this Henderson and kidnapping that girl was what it took" Burgess tried to reason. They had known about Henderson for quite some time and had seen a real chance to strike at the heart of America all whilst avoiding any blame, simply by using him as their scapegoat. But in order to get close to him, Cannavale had had to leave the group behind for quite a few months and infiltrate the group that had been hired by Henderson to kidnap Bauer's daughter. "That's true... and the good news is, I've managed to get my hands on a series of weapons that will help our cause!" the leader of the group revealed as he opened up the briefcase to reveal the remote launchers.

But Burgess frowned, disappointed at what he saw. "I know what you're thinking – but trust me, these are what we need. They are remote missile launchers and they have the potential to destroy any target within the DC area. I should know, I tested one and it was a complete success!" Cannavale reasoned, which got the reaction that he wanted from his second-in-command. "Brilliant.. well, we're pretty much ready to go. All we need to do is cover our tracks and then we can make our escape to Canada!" Burgess replied, only to be met with a finger on his lips. "Not quite yet, my good man. Before we go, we have to deal with Henderson – the bastard was on to us from the get-go, he double-crossed me. He KILLED my daughter!" Cannavale revealed, slightly twisting the truth but still pretty much keeping it intact. "Vicky's dead?" Li said suddenly, appearing from behind the men. She was not expecting to hear what she just heard. "Yes.. punishment for not doing as he said even though I did. Well.. two can play at that game!" the leader replied, with everyone looking at him in curiosity at that statement. "I intend to use some of the missiles, not all of them, to get rid of the bastard. If I fire at a certain point of the city, I'll be able to lure him into the open and then use another missile to eliminate him. One thing will lead to another and then as we escape into the distance, he'll become the scapegoat we wanted him to be all along" he continued.

Gumushan chose that moment to speak up. "Forgive my interruption, sir, but surely it would be better to fire the missiles when we are on the ship and heading to Canada instead of sticking around?" he pointed out, reverting to his forced American accent. Cannavale spied him and rose an eyebrow. "I don't think we've met?" he said. "Sorry, A.G – this is Nigel Jackson, he joined us a few days after you infiltrated the New Jersey gang. He's proven to be quite handy in the time you were away, I must say" Williams introduced quickly. Cannavale eyed the man before him once again. "Nigel Jackson, eh? Well.. forgive me for my rudeness. Always nice to have new people on the team" he said before holding out his hand to say. Gumushan accepted it. "But to answer your question, if I hold off on firing the missiles, it will give Henderson chance to get out the city. The missile's range will only go so far so we need to attack him now! Is the back-up tracker on the ship?" Cannavale explained before turning to Torres. "It is, sir! Jackson, would you be so kind?" the Hispanic man confirmed as he turned to face Gumushan. He quickly realized what he meant. "Yes! Give me a few minutes!" he insisted as he ran back up the stairs to the ship.

But as soon as he was out of sight, he pulled out his disposable phone and dialled the same number. "This is Gumushan – he's here, boss, Cannavale's at the Port!" he said before the woman he was speaking to had a chance to talk herself. " _You're sure about that, Mustafa?_ " the woman asked. "Sure as I'll ever be, Tyler! He spoke to me, he doesn't know who I am!" the Cyprian man insisted. " _That's good to hear! However, you couldn't have timed it any worse if I'm honest. DC's descended into panic, we're not able to go anywhere!_ " Tyler explained. Gumushan's face fell. "You're kidding me.. we finally have him and you can't get here?" he spluttered. " _Afraid so. You'll have to send out a distress call, hope someone gets it. Maybe that'll panic Cannavale enough that someone will get suspicious.._ " Tyler said, sympathy in her voice. Gumushan looked out of the window. "Alright.. I'll send a distress call.. if you don't hear from me, tell my wife I love her very much.." he said before hanging up and closing the phone shut. He took a deep breath and set to work. He would find the back-up tracker and then set the distress call.

In the skies above the North Atlantic, meanwhile, Project Connaughton was speeding through the clouds. The spinning sphere came to life. " _Test of weapon deemed successful. New co-ordinates received and programmed. ETA, 10 to 15 minutes!_ " the computer-like voice declared before the weapon sharply veered to the right and up north. The super-weapon had been given a new, mysterious target.

–

 **White House Bunker**

" _..and as you can see, the silence from the government and the White House over the events of the 12 hours has clearly had some kind of impact on people living within the DC area as many are trying to leave – presumably to avoid any further attacks, but you can also see that the military has been drafted in to stop these people leaving and to try and enforce the curfew, one of the few times in the last few hours that the White House has taken any action.._ " a male news-reader reported, as Novick, Yanes, Kim and Chloe watched the news bulletin through one of the laptops. The Acting President shook his head at what he saw. "Only a matter of time before this happened, curfew or no curfew.." Chloe pointed out, having firmly believed that recruiting the military to try and stop people leaving was a bad idea. Novick sighed as he realized that implementing the curfew was a bad idea. He needed to figure out a new way of restoring order in the city, even by just a little bit. "How quickly do you think you could get the video cameras rolling?" he suddenly asked Yanes, who was taken aback by the question.

"I'd say.. about two to three minutes, sir. How come?" the agent replied. "I think.. I think it's time we told the nation just what has been happening. The state of the government, Heller's condition, the North Atlantic.. they need to know. They deserve to know" the Acting President explained calmly. Whilst all three of Kim, Chloe and Yanes had surprised looks on their faces, it was Kim who spoke first. "Sir.. with respect.. I just don't think that'll work. The city's in a panic as it is, this has the potential to make things worse" she reasoned. Novick pulled his lips to one side, thinking over her valid concerns. "That's true, Kim – it really is. But if we just keep remaining silent on this, the questions will just keep racking up and then if the media finds out about President Heller on their own.." he replied. "I'm with the President on this, Kim. The government's in bad enough condition as it is – the media finding out on their own would end badly for everyone" Chloe backed up the Acting President. Novick cleared his throat. "It's settled then. Agent Yanes, get the cameras ready. We broadcast in just under five minutes" he decided and ordered before making his way towards the main area of the bunker.

Back in the city centre proper, meanwhile, Sergeant Ranwright and his men were facing a tough challenge. They had gotten themselves in place and had put up wooden barriers as part of a checkpoint, but now the initial queues of people trying to flee the city were getting bigger and bigger – and it was getting harder with each passing minute to stop people trying to get through. Those that were walking were able to get past the soldiers and run for their lives, whilst others were resorting to assault to try and get through the checkpoint. But whatever the case, Ranwright and his fellow military officers were battling to try and restore order and at the minute they were losing. Ranwright squeezed through several officers to try and find the officer directly below him in the ranks. "Anything from the White House?" he yelled over the sound of the yelling behind him. "General Hogan's trying to get more men but it's gonna take time! But there is good news. The President is gonna make a speech, try and calm things down!" the officer replied. "Well, good luck to him, I say! Look at it, I doubt even the National Guard could calm any of this down!" Ranwright confessed just a glass bottle was hurled through the air and smashed on the ground, nearly hitting the Sergeant.

"See what I mean? Right, I'm heading back in there. Tell me how the speech goes" he continued, pulling a baton from his belt and heading straight back towards the chaos.

–

08:42:51AM

In an alleyway to the right of the Holocaust Memorial Museum, there was a doorway next to some rubbish bins – and the handle suddenly started to rattle as if someone was trying to open the door from the other side. Finally, it was kicked open and Henderson emerged, slightly out of breath and still holding the briefcase holding the controls for the super-weapon. He held his free arm out, checking to see if it was still raining heavily. It wasn't – he looked upwards and saw that the sky was clearing of dark clouds. The storm that had been laying waste to the East Coast had finally ended. But in a way, it was almost like a bad omen as the storm had played a part in masking what Henderson had been doing. He had to move quickly or risk Jack Bauer and the authorities figuring out where he was and closing in on him just when the fun was getting started.

He quietly closed the door and made his way down the alleyway. If he wanted to avoid the electromagnetic pulse bomb going off and affecting the controls for Project Connaughton, he had to find a car and fast. As he emerged from the alley and onto a main street, he spied the road in front of him in search of a car – he could see the traffic piling up which meant that the city inhabitants were beginning to wake up to just what had been going up over the last few hours. He looked around and found a car, the driver-side door left open for some bizarre reason. He peered inside and found it empty; looking around, he made sure there was no-one watching him and he scrambled inside, closing the door. He shuffled around in search of keys and found none, not even in the ignition. He would have to hot-wire it. Pulling off a panel underneath the steering wheel, he pulled out two wires and put them close together, looking all around to ensure he wasn't being watched still. Finally, the engine roared to life. Putting the gear-stick into first gear, he pulled the car out and into the road. He needed to drive over the Potomac to avoid being hit by the EMP and with the traffic likely against him, it was going to be incredibly tight.

–

 **Port of Baltimore**

Onboard the ship, meanwhile, Gumushan was racing into action; he had found the back-up tracker as requested but now he had to send out a distress call in the hopes of getting through to Baltimore Police Department. Turning on the radio system, he inserted the frequency needed to get through to the the department – but not without looking over his shoulder on several occasions. If anyone of Cannavale's people walked in on him and caught him doing what he was doing, then his superiors had no hopes of catching the mercenaries. Finally, everything was in place. The Cyprian took a deep breath. "Mayday! Mayday! This is the Port of Baltimore to any police officer in the vicinity – repeat, this is the Port of Baltimore! _We are under siege, repeat we are under siege.._ " he declared over and over, completely unaware that his distress call was being heard by Cannavale and Torres, both of whom frowned at what they were hearing. "That's coming from the ship.. but only Jackson's on..." Cannavale started.

Torres looked up at the ship and sprung into action. "I'll be right back!" he insisted as he raced towards the steps that led up into the ship. Gumushan switched the radio off just as quickly as he turned it on and it was then that he heard the running up the steps. "Damn.." he whispered and he immediately raced to the side of the room, out of initial sight – just as Torres slammed the double doors open. "Jackson? You around, mate?" the Hispanic asked calmly as he started to look around the room. He was pretty sure that only "Jackson" was onboard the ship when the radio transmission began but it wouldn't be a bad idea to check and see if there was a stowaway; someone from the port could have gotten themselves onboard without anyone realizing. Gumushan, still keeping himself hidden, edged along the side of the room until Torres was firmly in his eyesight – and then he threw himself at the Hispanic, taking him by surprise and pushing him into the wall. This gave the Cyprian enough time to make his way out of the room and out of the ship.

Outside, Burgess continued to point his gun at the port-workers – but then he saw something in the corner of his eye. Frowning, he looked up and watched something emerge from the skies. Something he had never seen before. "Boss! Look!" he insisted and everyone looked up. Diving down towards them was a large fighter jet with a massive wing-span. "What is that?" Li said, confused over it's presence. No-one knew what it was, but then it dawned on Cannavale. It couldn't be.. "I'm only gonna say this once, to each and every one of you" he started, speaking to everyone in the area, just as a panel on the right-hand wing opened. The lead mercenary saw this and his heart started racing. "RUN FOR COVER!" he screamed desperately just as a howitzer emerged from the wing and fired straight at the ship. Gumushan ran off the ship and jumped straight onto the steps just as a rocket smashed into the ship and exploded. The shock-waves hit not just Gumushan but also Cannavale's crew, sending all of them flying. Project Connaughton turned 360 degrees in the opposite direction and this time, a panel on the left-hand wing opened – another long-range missile was launched straight at the ground before anyone could do anything.

As for the helicopter, meanwhile, it was still about 5 minutes away from the port as it raced through the sky. To the relief of everyone onboard, the storm had pretty much come to an end as the clouds had cleared, the rain had stopped and the sun was showing signs of emerging. "Any chance we can go any quicker?" Jack asked Ivanov, who shook his head. "It's good the rain's stopped but I'd rather not chance it. Besides, nothing's happened as of yet or else we would have seen it" the Russian agent reasoned. The former agent made a bit of a face but decided that Ivanov had a point. They would have seen something..

..but then they all did see something. Jack heard a massive boom coming in the distance and looked up to see thick smoke followed by what appeared to be a fireball. Coming directly from the Port. "Oh no.." the former agent said quietly and with fear in his voice. Belcheck sprung into action, filling the void left by Jack. "Heather, the system tracking your mother?" he asked and the teenager immediately checked the screen she was holding. The signal was still going. "Signal's still there – whatever happened, my mom's alive" she said in relief. The Serb mobster nodded. "LOOK!" Ivanov said suddenly and Belcheck looked forward. It was slightly hard to make out but it looked like there was something flying away from the Port and into the sky at an incredible speed. It disappeared into the skies just as quickly as it had appeared and Benediktov got up from his seat. "That could have been.." he said, suggesting it was the super-weapon. "Yeah.. but we won't know unless we speak to President Walkman" Jack finished, finding his voice. Ivanov had seen enough. "I suggest that everyone sit down and buckle up – things might get a little bumpy" he declared. Jack immediately headed back to his seat whilst Benediktov got back into his, just as the helicopter increased speed and raced through the sky towards the Port.

Within the bunker, meanwhile, Novick made his way up onto the podium in order to give his speech – because of the tight security within the bunker, there was only himself and approximately six Secret Service bunkers, with another two operating the video cameras. He had not prepared a speech owing to the lack of time given to him so he instead opted to speak from his heart. "A few more seconds, sir" an agent operating the camera instructed, to which the Acting President nodded. He knew everything had been done last minute but it was necessary as a result of the growing panic back on the surface.

Finally, the camera operator gave the signal. It was time for the Acting President to speak to the nation. "My fellow Americans.. I appreciate that my presence comes to a complete surprise to each and every one of you. You're probably wondering about the whereabouts of President Heller. Well, it's time for you to learn the truth about just what has been happening.." he started off. Completely unaware of the EMP several hundred feet above him. There were just over six minutes until the bomb was set to detonate.

08:47:56AM

–

08:51:45AM

 **Port of Baltimore**

To say that the Port of Baltimore was in chaos would have been a massive understatement. The Port had been reduced to a burning wreck as a result of the sudden attack by Project Connaughton – the ship that Cannavale's crew had arrived on was ablaze and capsizing into the water whilst over 60% of the containers were either ablaze, in the process of collapsing in on themselves or falling to the ground.

Near the burning stairs that led up to the ship, Gumushan groaned as he forced himself off the ground and onto his feet. Surprisingly, his glasses had survived the impact and attack and he slowly put them on. He surveyed the area and followed the sound of groaning metal just in time to see one container crush the container underneath it and land on the ground with a crunch. Looking down and around him, the Cyprian man could see bodies next to or even underneath containers. He could see the body of Li, of Williams, of several port-workers and of Smith. Looking around some more, he quickly spotted the bottom half of Burgess's body, which he was able to identify and grimaced. The top half was underneath a container, he couldn't have stood a chance of surviving something like that even if he tried.

But Gumushan frowned as he couldn't find any trace of Torres. The last thing he remembered, the Hispanic man was on the ship literally just before the attack. There was a chance he was still onboard but it was highly likely he hadn't survived. The ship was sinking beneath the surface of the harbour now. He knew he had sent out the distress call so all he could do now was wait and look for possible survivors IF there were any and it was a big if. He looked to his right and towards the van that Cannavale had been driving – and he immediately realized someone was lying right next to it and right underneath a container that was threatening to come crashing onto the burning remains of the van. He ran towards the figure and skidded to a halt, helping the figure up. "Come on!" he ordered, grabbing the figure's hand and running away from the van – which proved to be perfectly timed as he could hear creaking metal behind him. He turned his head to see the container come crashing down onto the van and coming to rest on the ground. "That was close.." he muttered as he looked at the figure. It was an older woman, smartly dressed and an expression not so dis-similar to that of a deer stuck in the headlights.

"Are you ok? Where did you come from?" Gumushan asked, checking her over for any hidden injuries and noting that the woman had just come completely out of nowhere. "Yeah... yeah, I'm fine. Would you believe me if I said that some dark-skinned man kidnapped me and held me captive in his van?" President Walkman President Walkman asked as she surveyed the damage for herself. She was horrified at what saw of the port. "What the hell happened?" she added, not giving Gumushan chance to respond to her first question. "If I tell you what happened here, do you promise not to think me crazy?" the Cyprian man replied, not wanting to come across as insane to whoever this woman was. "Well... after the day I've had, I'll believe anything you want" Walkman insisted, trying to come across as innocent and just a simple victim in the events of the day. "Right.. well, I had just come down the stairs from the ship – I was trying to avoid being caught by one of the men here when this huge.. aircraft came down out of nowhere! It was like a fighter jet but a hell of a lot bigger and with these massive wing-spans as well! It opened fire and disappeared just like that.." Gumushan explained and it suddenly dawned on Walkman what he was talking about. Giant aircraft that looked like a fighter jet with massive wing-spans? That could only mean one thing. Project Connaughton had fallen into the hands of the enemy.

"No.. it couldn't have.. WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" she insisted, grabbing a hold of Gumushan's hand and racing towards a gap between two containers that were still standing. "Hold it, hold it! You know what that was?!" the Cyprian man demanded to know. "I do... it's bad news for everyone who lives in Virginia, that's what!" Walkman revealed before racing back towards the gap, Gumushan following. But what neither person knew was that there was someone in the water near them. As they ran through the gap, Torres emerged and hauled himself back onto the Port proper. He had heard everything. He looked around, hoping to find any other survivors now that he knew "Jackson" was a mole. He couldn't, but he could make out the two figures running from the scene – and he could hear what sounded like a helicopter in the distance. He needed to find the briefcase of launchers. He couldn't find it anywhere near the bodies lying on the ground and he couldn't find Cannavale; from there, he put two and two together. He had to find Cannavale and they had to come up with a contingency plan. Fleeing the country was no longer a viable option. He moved to his left and started running.

Within a row of other containers, meanwhile, a pair of bloodied hands forced their way along one side of the container row. Cannavale resisted the urge to groan as he slid to the ground. He had been penetrated by a piece of large metal and had barely escaped the scene of chaos with his life. But he knew that because of how deep the penetration was, his life was slipping away. No amount of medical attention could save him now, but at least he still had the briefcase of launchers. He was confident someone on his crew was still alive and if he could get the briefcase to that person, then his plan was still on track. He looked out in the direction he had been going in and quickly spotted the helicopter flying above what remained of the Port."What the hell happened here?!" Ivanov said in utter shock as he overflew the remains of the Port. He knew they had seen the explosion but they hadn't realized just how serious that explosion had been. "Fly around, see if you can find anything. If not, land near the gates" Jack ordered. The helicopter began to circle the area unaware of who was still alive below.

–

 **Washington DC**

Even through all the traffic that had built up as a result of the citizens of DC trying to evacuate the city, Henderson was making his way out of the city centre with ease – he was in the midst of driving past the Lincoln Memorial and making his way onto the Arlington Memorial Bridge, named after the passenger who sacrificed his life to save four others from the freezing waters of the Potomac following a plane crash in early 1982. Henderson looked at his watch, 50 seconds until detonation. He was cutting it close but as soon as he was over the bridge, he would be out of the reach of the EMP. He raced onto the bridge and towards the other side as fast as the traffic would take him.

"So I urge each and every citizen of Washington DC to NOT panic. Special forces are in the process of trying to capture the people behind the attacks – and in the meantime, I must urge everyone to do their bit. Stay in your homes, the attackers will not be able to get you there. Let the military do their part and you can help them by doing your part. Thank you..!" Novick finished, signalling towards the cameramen to shut off the cameras as he made his way down from the podium. At the same time, Chloe was herself running towards the room where the speech had been taking place – she had a look of complete panic on her face. Across the bridge, meanwhile, Henderson was nearing the other side of the city. He was in the midst of plotting new co-ordinates for the super-weapon and after one last check of the time, 15 seconds to detonation, he submitted the co-ordinates to the super-weapon just as he fully crossed the bridge.

"Mr President!" Chloe shouted desperately as Novick and Yanes appeared in the hallway. Both men looked in the direction of the former analyst. "Something's happened in the North Atlantic! The Olympia says that the Albany has been destroyed!" she continued desperately, not once stopping for air. "Chloe! Calm down, what's happened to the Albany?" Novick ordered, having only understood a few words. Chloe prepared to start again, but the chance never came as within an instance, the lights shut off and an electromagnetic flash filled the hallway. Glass shattered, computer screens went blank, lights shut off and chaos began to erupt, as the Acting President, Chloe and Yanes went diving onto the floor. Within the White House proper, lights shut off within all the rooms that were still being used, including the medical area where Heller's still body was. Outside the building, a slight flash appeared and dissipated just as quickly as it went in all directions.

Within the city centre, the electricity went off pretty much everywhere – within buildings, cars, traffic lights, virtually in every single place that electricity was used. Cars crashed into one another, whilst the panic that had been taking place as a result of people trying to leave and being stopped disappeared completely. In its place came confusion over what had taken place. Across the Potomac, Henderson rounded the roundabout and watched in the door-wing mirrors as cars crashed into each other and the glass shattered. The EMP had done it's part. He looked at the car's warning signals and waited for any one of them to shut off. It did not happen, which meant that he had just escaped the range of the bomb. "Job done.." he said to himself as he began to head south on the George Washington Memorial Parkway. Now that was done, he had to find another way back into the city centre – he only needed to go across the Potomac to avoid being affected by the EMP. Now, the real fun could begin.

Within the bunker, meanwhile, Chloe slowly got to her feet and took in the chaos around her. Something had happened. She desperately pulled her phone out of her pocket and was horrified by what she saw. It had gone completely dead. "Mr President?" she said suddenly, looking towards Novick who was also getting back on his feet. He looked around, trying to make sense of what happened. "What.. what was that?" he spluttered. "I think... it was an EMP. Someone had detonated an EMP within the vicinity of the White House. Now they had no way of making contact with Jack. Wherever he was, he was on his own.

–

 **Port of Baltimore**

The helicopter slowly but surely made its way towards the ground and with a gentle thud, it landed within the Port's fences. Sokolov opened the door and everyone began to make their way out. Heather was the first to emerge and as a result, the first to see the two strange figures at the side of one container coming towards them. But she recognized one of them very well as her eyes widened in shock. "Mom!" she cried in delight as she ran forwards before Sokolov and Ivanov could stop her. President Walkman looked up and saw her teenage daughter coming towards her. "Heat... Heather!" she spluttered and immediately pushed Gumushan back in order to embrace her daughter. Jack watched this and the human side of him came to the forefront, as he found himself unable to hold back the smile. There was nothing better than watching a parent and child reunite. Belcheck and Benediktov climbed down from the helicopter, but both were focusing on different things – the Serb mobster was looking at the Walkman's embrace whilst the Russian General was looking straight ahead. And he immediately touched Jack on the arm, pointing at what he was seeing.

For there was another figure slowly emerging from a gap between two stacks of containers. "Cannavale!" Benediktov roared in surprise and anger, which startled the mercenary and got the surprise of everyone else. Cannavale pushed himself up against the side of one container before collapsing to the group, his grip on the briefcase lost. Jack raced towards him, followed closely by Benediktov and then Belcheck and then everyone else, Gumushan and Heather helping Walkman walk straight. At first, it seemed like no-one could see the piece of metal that had penetrated Cannavale's body. "Huh... hi, General.. looks like the plan went well?" he said uneasily, trying desperately to break the mood. But he then saw the look on Benediktov's face – if looks could kill, he'd be dead even if the piece of metal hadn't gotten him. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't beat you within an inch of your LIFE!" the Russian snarled, the anger radiating from him even taking Jack by surprise. "Ah.. well I do have one; it's beaten you to it.." the mercenary admitted, moving his arm back to reveal the metal. Benediktov's eyes widened. "But it's a good thing you're here – and you as well, Bauer. I've... got something to say, might as well say it now.." he continued, trying his best not to groan at the considerable pain. This got Jack's attention, just as Belcheck and the Russian agents came up.

"Talk.." Benediktov said coldly. Cannavale peered at his injury. Blood was continuing to pour out, he didn't have much in the way of time so he had to make the most of it. "The man who told you... Russia had been attacked.. he was a fake! Hermann from Airborne Cell, he... he died hours before you were contacted. Before Bauer even made landfall.." he confessed, again resisting the temptation to cry out at the pain. Benediktov was taken aback, looking around to see if there was anyone who could back up the mercenary's claims. "It's true, he's dead. I saw him die in front of me.." Belcheck confirmed. The Russian was certainly not expecting to hear that the man who told him that Moscow had been attacked was in-fact a fake – after seeing Surarov through the video screen, he had thought that maybe it had been a case of misinformation. "There's more.. I know who impersonated Hermann.. I saw him do it, with my own eyes.." Cannavale added, his attempts to resist the pain fading by the second. He had to be quick. "Who? All we need is a name.." Jack urged. The mercenary took a deep breath.

"It was... a guy called Henderson!" he finally spluttered out. This was something not a single person standing around him was expecting. Jack looked over at Benediktov, who looked over at Belcheck, who looked at the Russian agents. "You see... he was after the super-weapon that Walkman had created!" he continued, suddenly finding the strength to point up at Walkman who had just arrived with Gumushan and Heather at her sides. "After he'd been double-crossed by you, Jordan.. that's when he lied to the General. He knew that if he... was gonna... get the weapon, he would.. have to trick Benediktov. You can.. figure out the rest..." he said before finally letting out a massive groan of pain. But now things made sense to the Russian General – Henderson had completely pulled the wool over his eyes. Moscow had not been attacked after all. It was all a ruse to get the Russian to attack Guardstrom HQ and distract Walkman long enough so that Henderson could get his grubby little hands on the controls for the super-weapon. There had been no need for vengeance, no need to attack DC in the way that he did. Everything had been built on a lie and now the future of the country was at stake. He might have a deep hatred for America but he was a man of his word and a man of honour – and what had taken place as a result of his actions might have just made things worse.

Benediktov was bought of his thoughts by another sharp pain from Cannavale. Jack was about to give the order for Ivanov to get the first aid kit from the helicopter but the mercenary interrupted. "NO! No.. I've.. I've caused enough damage. I only hope.. that what I say stops that bastard.. and lets me reunite with Vicky.." he coughed out before finally coughing up blood and falling still. Blood trickled from his slightly open mouth as Jack realized he was dead. But he had had just enough time to give up some key information about Henderson. He shook his head and looked away, in the direction of Walkman. They needed to take action, but first they had to deal with other things. "We have a great deal to talk about, Madame President. Developing weapons, potential involvement with terrorism?" he said firmly. Walkman sighed. "Can we talk this after this is done? If you haven't realized, Heather doesn't know a thing.." she replied just as firmly. Jack looked at Heather, who clearly had had no idea of just what her mother had done and nodded. He looked at Belcheck.

"Belcheck! Here, contact Chloe – the frequency is all sorted so all you have to do is talk to her. She might be able to help deactivate these things!" Jack instructed, taking the briefcase from next to the still body of Cannavale and handing both that and a portable radio to the Serb mobster. "Got it, give me a few minutes" he agreed before walking out of the gap between the containers and to the side. He opened up the briefcase just to make sure that the launchers were all there and all intact, before taking the radio and putting it to his ear. "Chloe, it's Belcheck. Jack said we need to deactivate the missile launchers.." he explained. But the seconds ticked by and there was no response, only static. The Serb frowned. "Chloe?" he spoke again. Again, there was no response and only static.

Belcheck frowned – it wasn't like Chloe to not respond in any situation, especially one such as this. He opted to give it another minute in the event that the former analyst did pick up.

–

 **Washington DC**

Just over two minutes had passed since the EMP had detonated – and on the outskirts of the city centre, close to both the Lincoln Memorial and the Arlington Memorial Bridge, no-one was quite sure as to what had happened exactly. A soldier carrying a gun and positioned behind a large wooden barrier hauled himself back to his feet and looked around in confusion. He looked to in front of the barrier at the stream of cars on the bridge – about five or six drivers were trying to start their cars but the engines just wouldn't restart. The soldier picked up his radio. "This is Corporal Hartford calling Sgt Ranwright, come in, over!" he spoke into it only to be met with static. It was like all the electricity in the area had been wiped out. It didn't make any kind of sense to Hartford.

Suddenly, he heard what sounded like a rumbling coming from the skies and he looked up. Emerging from the dissipating clouds was something unusual – to him, it looked like a fighter jet but a lot bigger and with an absolutely massive wing-span. And it was heading straight towards the bridge. "What the devil is that..?" Hartford muttered, the drivers and people standing on the bridge having now also seen the overly large aircraft. But what they didn't realize was that a hatch on the left-hand wing of Project Connaughton was beginning to open up. " _Target identified. Firing in 3.. 2.. 1.._ " the computer-like voice declared before firing one of the four remaining long-range missiles. As the super-weapon began to fly back upwards, the missile slammed into the bridge and exploded in an instant. Realizing what was happening, the people on the bridge began to panic and ran desperately back towards the barrier.

Knowing what had happened, Hartford forced the barrier out of the way and urged the people to move forward – but when he heard a creaking noise, he looked forward and watched as the bridge began to collapse into the water. Unable to bare seeing what was happening any longer, he looked up to where the aircraft had gone. He was at a loss for words over what had just taken place.

–

08:57:12AM

 **Port of Baltimore**

Jack watched silently as Ivanov and the man who called himself Gumushan gave both Heather and President Walkman medical attention inside the helicopter. He was thinking quite a bit about Cannavale's dying words, about the claims that Henderson had manipulated the events of the last few hours. If it was true, then he wasn't really that surprised. He was indeed Christopher Henderson's son. But then he had to give consideration to what Walkman and Gumushan had both said just before they found Cannavale, about this Project Connaughton. It was increasingly likely that Henderson had set everything up so just that he could take the controls for the super-weapon. Walkman had been the brains behind the weapon and Cannavale had been just as surprised to see the weapon emerge from the skies, so it was likely that Henderson had it. But why? It didn't make sense.

"JACK!" the agent heard a voice and turned to see Belcheck coming up towards him, looking worried. "I've tried to contact Chloe in the bunker – there's no response. I've used every frequency, just keeps going to static.." the Serb mobster explained, handing over the portable radio. Frowning, Jack tried for himself. "Chloe, this is Jack. Do you copy?" he spoke into the radio, only to be met with static. He tried a different frequency. "Chloe!" he yelled. Again, he was met with static. Something was definitely not right.

"Jack! Over here!" Sokolov shouted desperately and the former agent raced towards her. "The pilot of the helicopter who dropped me and Ivanov off earlier.. he just got in touch with me. He landed on the edge of the city centre and was heading into DC proper – when everything just lost power! Cars, traffic lights, everything!" the Russian agent explained. Jack frowned. "When you say lost power, do you mean...?" he asked. "Yes.. and what's more, I was able to gain access to a Russian satellite. It's scanned the Virginia area, look at this!" she insisted, pointing at the screen. Jack scanned the screen, which had a basic outline of the DC city centre as well as surrounding areas – a large chunk of the outline was completely black whilst the surrounding areas had yellow lights on them. "If I'm not correct... I'd say the city centre for Washington DC has completely lost power.." Sokolov admitted and Jack looked up in shock. The whole of the DC city centre had lost power? That would explain why they were suddenly unable to contact Chloe in the White House Bunker. But how on earth could such a city like DC lose power just like that?! Unless, unless...

But before he could give what he was thinking some further thought, he was bought out of his mind by what sounded like something in the very far distance. He looked up and away from the laptop, following the direction where everyone else was looking. What they had heard sounded very much like an explosion in the distance. "Binoculars, anyone?!" Jack demanded and Sokolov immediately handed them over. Positioning them well, Jack looked through them and his suspicions were quickly confirmed. In the distance, he could make out smoke rising into the sky. An explosion, maybe? He slowly lowered them and threw them to the ground. "Everyone, back to the helicopter! We have to get back to DC!" he ordered, before turning towards the helicopter itself. "Ivanov! Do that when we're in the air, we have to go back to DC now!" he yelled, referring to the Russian giving Walkman some medical attention. Having heard the explosion, Ivanov didn't need to be told twice as he immediately raced towards the controls and began the procedure to turn the rotors back on.

But then something happened that no-one in the area expected – there was a massive explosion within two cargo containers that was behind the group that threw Belcheck off his feet and Benediktov onto the ground. What was worse and as Jack saw, the Serb mobster had lost his grip on the briefcase of launchers as a result of the explosion; but before anyone could react, the sound of bullets filled the air. "Get down!" Jack yelled as he hauled Sokolov onto the ground, the sound of a machine gun firing rapidly somewhere over them. Just outside the helicopter, Walkman grabbed a hold of Heather and pulled her down whilst Ivanov scrambled underneath the helicopter controls, just as the windscreen for the helicopter was penetrated, bullets breaking the glass and the shell casings coming to rest on the floor of the helicopter. Jack moved his head and looked around him, desperately trying to figure out the direction that the machine gun was firing from – but as a result of this, he failed to spot another bullet firing in the direction of the helicopter's fuel tank, which was penetrated as a result. Fuel began to drip out, unbeknown to anyone and everyone. As Belcheck came to his senses, he quickly realized he no longer had a grip on the briefcase. He looked around trying to find it and spotted it in front of him, about a few metres away.

He knew the machine gun was still firing so he could only crawl his way towards the briefcase – but as he edged closer and closer, he stopped. He thought he could hear a car engine roaring and he looked to his left just in time to see a BMW racing through the smoke and dust. The Serb mobster quickly backtracked and just in time as the BMW crashed through a stack of barrels of fuel before coming to a stop over 15 feet in front of the helicopter – but something else that no-one had spotted was that in the impact, not one but two barrels of fuel had burst and fuel was starting to leak everywhere. The driver-side door to the BMW emerged and from it emerged a figure that Jack had not seen before. He looked down at the barrels of fuel and gave a dark smile. "Just what I needed.." Torres said and he pulled a lighter out from his pocket, opening it up. Jack quickly clicked what it was and his eyes widened as Torres threw the lighter onto the fuel – which instantly ignited. A stream of fire several metres high sprung up into the air, almost creating a barrier between the Hispanic and everyone else on the other side of the fire. Torres now had no-one to stop him from taking the briefcase

On the helicopter, Walkman looked up to see the trail of fire before her – and her motherly instincts kicked up as she pulled Heather to her feet but it was in the process of doing that that she saw the damage to the helicopter's fuel tank. She looked back at the trail of fire and realized what was about to happen. "Heather, take this! TAKE THIS AND RUN!" she ordered desperately, pushing her daughter in the direction of the BMW whilst giving her what looked like a small square ring. Heather was rightly confused and simply stood still, looking at her mother wanting to know why she was asking like she was. "Just move! I know what I'm doing, honey, just..." Walkman desperately pleaded in an act that proved to be her last as behind her, the trail of fire came into contact with the leaking fuel tank – the resulting explosion ripping through the helicopter and killing not just the Guardstrom President but also Agent Ivanov almost immediately. The explosion proved to be so powerful that Heather was blown backwards and straight into Torres, who hadn't realized the helicopter's fuel tank had been penetrated until he heard the explosion, looking up in time to see Heather slam into him, both landing on the briefcase.

On the other side of the fire trail, both Jack and Sokolov had just-about seen the explosion and Jack had quickly realized it was the helicopter that had exploded. The machine gun was still firing and it finally came clear that this was an ambush. And it was likely someone was after the launchers. Back near the BMW, Heather groaned as she struggled to get back on her feet. But it was then that she saw the helicopter in flames. And she couldn't see her mother anywhere around it or within it. "Mom! MOM!" she cried desperately, before she was roughly thrown back onto the ground. She looked up at who had thrown her and she saw Torres standing above her. "I'll take that if you don't mind!" he said coldly as he picked up the briefcase, which the teenager had been on top of unknowingly. Heather looked at the Hispanic, a combination of fear and terror in her eyes. Her mother had just been killed and it was taking all she could to not burst into tears. "Aww.. is the little girl gonna cry?" Torres mocked, blatantly seeing that she was trying not to let her emotions show. "LEAVE HER ALONE, YOU SCUMBAG!" the two suddenly heard an angry roar and Torres looked to his left just in time for Gumushan to smash one of his firsts into the Hispanic's face. The two men landed on the ground and began wrestling, one of Gumushan's kicks managing to send the briefcase in the direction of Heather.

At first, it seemed as though the Cyprian was getting the upper hand, but then Torres began to overpower him and after throwing him against the front of the BMW, pulled out a gun. "I knew there was something off about you from the start. I tried to tell Burgess, but oh no, he was insistent that you were a cast-iron patriot. Well let me tell you, Jackson... OR should I say Gumushan, that the game is up!" Torres snapped, pointing the gun at Gumushan and threatening to pull the trigger. "You lay one finger on him – and I'll smash these beyond use!" a voice called in retaliation and both men looked up to see Heather, the briefcase lying open on the ground and the launchers there for everyone to see – as well as the teenager's right foot balanced above them, ready to crush them all. Torres rose an eyebrow, as if to say "really?". "I'm warning you – you lay one finger on him and I'll do it!" Heather continued, intent on staying in control. The impasse went on for what felt like forever, until the Hispanic lowered his gun. "Alright.. I won't touch him, if that's what you want" he relented and Heather sighed in relief.

"You on the other hand.." the Hispanic suddenly added and pointed his gun at the teenager, firing a shot into her right leg. Heather yelped in pain as she struggled to remain on her feet, giving Torres time to swoop in and grab the briefcase. Gumushan immediately got to his feet and moved in to stop the Hispanic only for Torres to turn around and reveal he had Heather's neck around his arm – and that he was pointing his gun against her skull. "You really are a nasty thorn, aren't you? Well, there's no other way to deal with this.. get in the car or I kill her!" Torres ordered. The Cyprian appeared reluctant but he didn't want the teenager's blood on his hands. "Alright, alright.. I'm getting in" he agreed, walking backwards and climbing into the back of the BMW via the left-hand passenger door. "Now you, missy. You're gonna drive me and our passenger back towards the city centre. That clear?" Torres added, releasing his grip on the teenager. "Alright.. alright" Heather conceded. She didn't want any bloodshed and she slowly made her way into the BMW.

On the other side of the fire, Jack could make out what was happening, partly down to the fact that the machine gun was now firing at ten-second intervals. "You don't know what you're doing, or what you're dealing with!" he insisted having realized that the mysterious figure had gotten a hold of the launchers. Torres stopped, having just opened the car door. "Oh I know what I'm doing alright – I'm upholding Cannavale's last wishes. Revenge will be his!" he declared before climbing into the car and pointing the gun at Heather. The teenager started up the car and the BMW began to leave the Port but not before Torres pointed his gun up at over the fire and fired a lone shot. The machine gun that had been firing in a maverick style finally came to a stop, but Jack could only watch as the BMW drove off quickly and out of the remains of the Port. The trail of fire had finally died down, but it was too late for any one of him, Belcheck, Sokolov and Benediktov to even try and stop the BMW.

The former agent slowly got to his feet and looked like as though he was about to break down. Things had now gotten out of control and gotten to a point where even he hadn't expected what had happened to happen. Whilst Cannavale had been killed, Walkman and Ivanov had also been practically outright murdered whilst both Heather and Gumushan had been taken hostage by one of Cannavale's followers and the remote launchers taken. But that was just the tip of the iceberg – contact had been lost with practically the whole of DC whilst it was highly likely that a deadly weapon capable of destroying everything and anything had fallen into the hands of a man who was out for revenge. Against not just the government but also himself. Jack looked along and helped Sokolov to her feet. They needed to find a new vehicle and stop that BMW before any more missiles were launched. Being in the wrong hands was one thing but the launchers being in the hands of those who didn't understand what they were holding was another matter altogether.

But whilst all of this was going one, one man was standing still. General Benediktov. He could see full well what was going on around him but at the minute, that was the last thing on his mind. He was thinking about Cannavale's dying words and how that impacted on what everyone knew about this Jeremy Henderson. About how he had manipulated not just what remained of the Allied Forces of Europe but also Guardstrom to achieve his own goals. The Russian had abandoned the Yuri Dolgorukiy, launched an attack on Guardstrom HQ and even attempted to abduct their President all based on the lies that Henderson had told him.

He had made a vow to readily admit to all of the crimes he had committed up until Jack arrested him if he had been allowed to help stop those behind the day's events, but now he was starting to question that vow. He had come to the realization that things were spiralling out of control as it was – and one thing still stood on his mind. Vengeance. Vengeance not against America for the crimes committed across the European continent, but vengeance against the man who had lied to him, manipulated him and just actively engaged in a campaign of deception to get what he wanted. The temptation of vengeance was getting stronger and stronger with every passing minute and he simply wasn't sure if he would be able to resist the temptation any longer.

–

09:00:00AM

* * *

And there we go - Cannavale and Walkman have both lost their lives, whilst Washington DC is starting it's descent into chaos. As if that's not bad enough, one of Cannavale's men has taken the launchers and Project Connaughton has started it's rampage. Only two hours left in the day, how do you guys think the day will finish? Who do you think will die? Please rate and review and I'll get started on Hour 23 hopefully at some point..


	23. 23: 9am - 10am (WET)

Hello! Hello, hello, hello!

I know what you're thinking - where the hell have I been? Well, I can only apologise for being so slow with uploading this chapter. Put simply.. at times, I've just not had the energy to write up this chapter or even think about my grand finale in Chapter 24 - and at the times where I did have the energy, I just did not like what I was writing and then reading. It took me quite a number of re-thinks and re-edits before I had something I like - which is most obviously this.

So... sit back and enjoy.

 **DISCLAIMER:** See Chapter 1

* * *

23: 9am – 10am (WET):

 **The following takes place between 9am and 10am, Washington Eastern Time:**

–

09:00:00AM

 **American Airspace**

As opposed to the area of the East Coast surrounding Washington DC and Delaware which had been rocked by the thunderstorm, the Mid West of the continent had been largely unaffected – and this was of great relief to the pilots of the Boeing C-32 that was currently flying en-route to DC, with Secretary of State Michael Gerrard onboard. "How much longer until we're over DC, Dana?" the first officer asked. The captain looked at the systems in front of her. "Well, at this speed and provided we don't hit any trouble.. I'd say another 40 minutes. We've really managed to make up for lost time though.." she replied, surprised at how they had managed to make up for the delays they had endured on the flight – the White House would be relieved that they were going to be arriving sooner rather than later.

"We should probably establish contact, let them know we're nearly here" the first officer remarked and immediately reached for the cockpit's radio. The pilot tuned in the frequency and nodded, giving the go-ahead. "This is Air Force Two contacting the White House, do you copy, over?" the first officer stated, only to be met by radio silence. No static, no form of noise over the radio, just complete dead air. The first officer frowned. "This is Air Force Two contacting the White House, do you copy, over?" he repeated. Again, radio silence. Complete dead air. "I don't understand.." he insisted, utterly confused over what he was hearing or rather what it was that he was not hearing. Dana moved to take the radio. "This is Air Force Two contacting the White House, do you copy, over?" she repeated into the radio. Radio silence. She was getting concerned. "Check with the Secretary of State, see if he's having the same trouble" she ordered the first officer, who nodded and started to remove his seatbelt – as soon as it was off, he got up from his seat and made his way out of the cockpit.

In the cabin, Gerrard was in discussion with two of the Secret Service agents assigned to him when he spotted the first officer coming out of the cockpit and looking anxious. This sparked his attention as the pilots rarely ever left the cockpit whenever he was being flown on the Boeing C-32. "Hang on a sec.." he hushed the agents as the first officer rushed over to him. "What's the problem, Matt?" the Secretary of State asked. "I don't know yet, sir – but I need you to try and establish contact with the White House.." the pilot, identified as Matt by the Secretary, explained nervously. Gerrard frowned. "Alright.. get me my laptop" he agreed before turning to one of his agents. Within seconds, the laptop was in front of him and the lid opened up. Gerrard leaned forward and began typing into a small box on the screen. " _Preparing contact establishment..._ " a voice stated and the seconds ticked by as the screen was shown to be preparing to make a video connection. But then it suddenly failed. " _Establishment failed, please try again later.._ " the voice added. Gerrard frowned and looked up at the pilot, his expression asking what point he was trying to make. "This isn't good.." Matt admitted and started to make his way back towards the cockpit.

"Woah, hang on, Matthew! You don't ask me to try and make contact with the President and then go off without explanation when it doesn't work" Gerrard insisted sternly. "Sir, it's better if you follow me.." the first officer insisted, turning on his heel back to the cockpit. A confused Gerrard followed, whilst the Secret Service agents assigned to him looked at each other with just-as-equally confused faces. "Maybe we should get in touch with the bunker.." one suggested as he pulled his phone from his pocket. Within the cockpit and if anything, Captain Dana was looking flustered and worried. The door opened and she looked over her shoulder to see her first officer and Gerrard walking in. "It's worse, Matt – I can't get in touch with ANYONE in the DC city centre!" she explained, which got the full attention of the Secretary of State. "Do either one of you want to tell me what the problem is?" Gerrard spluttered in frustration. "Put simply, sir, we've been trying to get in contact with the White House and yet everything we made contact with them, we've been met with radio silence. Not even static, just silence!" the first officer revealed. Gerrard frowned. "Have you tried on all frequencies?" he suggested. "Yes, been met with silence on all of them! What's more, I tried the United States Capitol Building, the police department and even the F.B.I, nothing but silence on all accounts" the Captain insisted.

The Secretary of State was surprised – they hadn't been to make contact with anyone in the city centre? "Matt just had me try and connect with the bunker.. establishing contact failed almost straight away" he said slowly, connecting the dots. Dana looked back at her instruments. "Something or someone has cut off all communication with the DC city centre.." she said quietly. Before Gerrard could say anything, he was cut off from behind. "Mr Secretary.. I don't mean to interrupt, but I've just tried to call a contact of mine in the White House. It failed straight away, there's nothing but dead air and silence on the line" one of his agents assigned to him explained, holding his open phone in his hand. Gerrard put the phone to his ear and realized that the agent was correct; there was literally no sound coming from the phone even though the screen said that it was in the midst of trying to connect.

Something was clearly very wrong, even more so than a lot of the other events that had taken place over the last 24 hours. "Get me Jack Bauer and I don't care what it takes!" he ordered the agent who nodded and headed back into the middle of the plane cabin. The Secretary closed the door behind him and moved in-between the two pilots. "How long until we're overflying DC?" he asked. "Under an hour at the most, sir – we've been very lucky to make up for lost time" the Captain replied. Nodding, Gerrard turned towards the first officer. "Continue trying to establish contact – see if anyone picks up, inside or outside the city centre" he ordered. He could only hope that everything was okay, but if a lot of key buildings within the city centre were not responding to the plane's radio calls, it was a clear message that everything was not okay.

–

 **Port of Baltimore**

Several police officers raced through the gaps between the containers as fire-fighters began tackling the various fires within the port, including the blaze on the helicopter where the bodies of President Walkman and Ivanov now laid – and all whilst Jack was explaining the situation to a senior police officer. "So you're saying that everyone else in Cannavale's crew is dead but yet Torres escaped with Gumushan as a hostage?" the officer asked, slightly hesitant. "Yes! Now if we're done, can we go? We have to stop Torres and retrieve what he took before he can cause any more damage!" Jack insisted, getting increasingly fed up at the officer's stubbornness. Granted, there was a chance the officer couldn't have known about Novick's speech so some parts of what Jack had told him might have come across as a bit far-fetched but still..

"Well truth be told, I would be more believable of your story if Gumushan was here to back it up.. but I guess considering what's been going on, I can't afford to take it to chance. I won't hold you up any further.." the officer relented, but just as Jack spotted Benediktov being led towards a police car. In handcuffs. "WOAH! Woah, woah, hold up!" he exclaimed and he raced towards the police car. "I know what you're thinking, but I'm gonna need to take the General off your hands. I still need his help.." the former agent insisted, the police officer giving him a look of disgust and incredulity. "NEED HIS HELP? Might I remind you, Agent Bauer, that General Benediktov is a man who has committed countless terrorist acts against our country?" he retorted. Jack simply grabbed his hand. "The circumstances have changed.. I need his help to stop a dangerous situation getting any worse.." he insisted. The officer simply glared at him, then removed his hand from Jack's grasp. "I have my orders, Bauer, as much as you have yours.. I'm sure you can sort things out without the General" he insisted before pushing Benediktov into the car. Jack looked through the window at the General who simply gave a look that suggested he was saying "I've done my bit, just catch the bastard!".

"Jack! Over here, quickly!" the former agent held Belcheck yell and he turned his head to see the Serb mobster and Russian agent Sokolov beckoning him over. Intrigued, he rushed over. "What's wrong?" he asked. "This! The satellite I was using when we found out about the city centre, it just picked up this massive spike in the air-space above the city.." Sokolov explained as she showed what was on the screen of the laptop – there was the imagery used of the city centre to help determine that the electricity within the centre had been wiped out, but now there was a large chunk of colour within the city centre, like a heat pattern. And it was very much erratic. Jack frowned and then it hit him. "The super-weapon.. it could only be that!" he exclaimed. "Exactly our thoughts – there's no way any other aircraft could have a heat pattern like that" the Russian agent replied in agreement. But then before Belcheck could speak up, they were interrupted by someone shouting. "Mr Bauer!" Jack turned to see who was calling him and to his surprise, the senior police officer was running up.

"I found this!" he explained as he handed the former agent a large iPad-like screen that looked slightly battered but none the worst for wear. Jack almost looked perplexed at it and was about to question why it had been given to him, but then he realized it was very familiar indeed. He activated it and within a few seconds, a small dot similar to the one used to track President Walkman – and it was moving further and further away. "Heather..." he said quietly, but loud enough for the three people before him to hear. "If that's Heather... then that means..." Belcheck said as he realized what the dot meant. "That means we're tracking Torres as well!" Sokolov finished. The police officer quickly caught onto what they were on about. "Right.. what are we gonna do? We need to get Torres but we can't let the super-weapon do any further damage to the city centre.." Jack said suddenly, knowing that they had two dangerous issues to tackle. "I'd be willing to go after Torres and get the launchers but I would need Benediktov for possible back-up.." Sokolov suggested before looking at the senior officer who could only sigh. "I wish I could help, but you know how it is – I can't just let a terrorist loose from police custody.." he pointed out. The Russian agent knew he was right but then came up with an idea.

"You don't have to, sir – you just have to provide a distraction and I can do the rest.." she proposed, pulling a gun from her belt. It took a few seconds for the idea to register but he was very quick to try and turn the suggestion down. "Now now.. I get the concerns but what's the worst that could happen? No-one has to know it was you who did it.." she replied calmly. The officer was slightly unnerved by it all but eventually conceded. "Alright.. you get close enough to the car and I'll fire, get the officers attention" he agreed, taking the gun. Sokolov looked towards Jack and Belcheck. "You two better get going, you have no idea what that thing could be doing next" she insisted. Jack knew she was right, but considering they were well over 50 minutes away from the city centre, time was very much against them. They would have to find either a plane or heck, even another helicopter – but after today, it would be fair to say that the former agent had no real desire to step foot in yet another helicopter. "I've got a car ready for you both, it'll at least give you some form of transport. Best I can do.." the police officer explained. "Thanks.. if we're gonna do this, we'll have to do it now" Jack replied, first talking to the officer and then turning towards Sokolov who knew what he meant.

The trio of Jack, Belcheck and Sokolov made their way back towards both the waiting car and the police car with Benediktov in the back; the senior officer looked at the gun and tightened his fist. Now or never. He turned on his heel and pointed the gun up in the air, firing multiple shots. The sound of the shots took everyone near the port entrance by surprise and many of them threw themselves onto the ground, whilst some headed off in the direction of the shots. Moving quickly, the officer pointed the gun at his own arm and fired, quickly hiding the gun as officers raced in. "Someone suddenly shot at me, through there!" he lied, racing towards where he had pointed. As for Sokolov, she raced towards the officer nearest the police car and smashed him in the face with her elbow, whilst Jack and Belcheck calmly raced towards the car that the senior officer had for them. The Russian agent opened the driver door and spotted the surprised look on Benediktov's face behind her. "We have to stop Torres!" she explained as she threw the car into forward gear, smashing it into another police cruiser – one officer diving to the ground to avoid being hit. Pushing the cruiser to the side with the strength of the car, the Russian agent then started to make her way out of the port. Literally seconds after the car drove out, Jack and Belcheck followed suite with the Serb mobster pushing his foot down on the accelerator.

"Where are we headed?" he asked, knowing they'd never make it back to DC in the car alone. "As soon as we're out, go right. The John Hopkins Hospital has a helicopter pad, presumably a helicopter there or on the way there" Jack explained, as the car made a sharp veer to the right. Time was of the essence.

–

 **Outskirts of Baltimore**

Because of how quickly he had left the Port, Torres had a pretty sizeable headstart over anyone that may be trying to catch up with him – but owing to the fact that Sokolov and Benediktov had only just left the Port, he was pretty convinced no-one would be able to catch him before he could launch one of the missiles.

As the car raced out of the city limits, the Hispanic looked down at the open briefcase of launchers sitting on his lap. "Jack was right, you know – you don't know what you're doing!" Heather said suddenly, not once looking at the Hispanic. Her face was a flurry of emotions; she had barely had time to react to the sudden murder of her mother at Torres' hands before she and the Turkish-Cyprian man currently sitting in the back of the BMW had been taken at gunpoint and now she was simply trying to hold everything together. "Well.. put simply, here is where both you and Jack are wrong – I do know what I am doing and these little babies are the key to it!" Torres replied, holding one of the remote launchers in his hand to prove his point. "And how are they the key? What are you gonna do?" Gumushan said pointedly from the back of the car. Torres simply turned his head to face him and smirked. "All in good time.. whoever it is you are, Gumushan? Tell you what, we have some time; why don't the both of you introduce yourselves to me and I might give you some detail on my plans?" he proposed.

Heather gripped the steering wheel tightly; it was taking all of her willpower not to just drive the BMW off the road and crash it. This guy was a bastard in more ways than one. "I propose.. ladies first?" the Hispanic added, almost mocking the teenager and almost pushing her enough to send her emotions into overdrive. "I'm Heather.. Heather Walkman. My mom, she was the President of Guardstrom" she said calmly. Torres rose an eyebrow. "Was?" he asked. "Yes.. she died when you destroyed the helicopter.." Heather responded, saying the last four words with enough venom that even the Hispanic was taken aback. "I had no idea.. I'm sorry. Losing parents at a young age is awful" he said with an almost apologetic tone in his voice. Heather suspected he wasn't actually sorry but said nothing as Torres looked back at the man he had called Gumushan. "What about you? And don't try and continue the pretence that you're Nigel Jackson!" he snapped. Gumushan sighed. "I am.. Mustafa Gumushan. I am from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, working undercover for the Baltimore Police Department to bring down the gang belonging to Andrew-Gomez Cannavale" he fully confessed, knowing that part of the game was up. Torres scoffed. "I knew something was off about you from the beginning, but never mind – now I know where to send your body parts to when you snuff it!" he declared smugly.

Gumushan shook his head, ignoring the threat. "Alright, we've told you what you wanted to know. Now it's your turn" he pointed out. Torres nodded, knowing he had his end of the bargain to hold up. "Well, since I don't expect the pair of you to live beyond mid-day, I suppose I could tell you everything" he agreed. Both Heather and Gumushan did their best to ignore the clear threat given to them. "We are currently heading towards the DC city centre, where we are going to meet with my ally" he explained, something that took the Turkish-Cyprian by surprise. "You never mentioned anything about having an ally outside of the crew!" he pointed out. "Well.. you guys didn't really need to know about it, let's be honest" the Hispanic reasoned though not very strongly. "Alright, who is this ally?" Heather butted in, not wanting tensions to get worse. "He calls himself Henderson. He got in contact with me a few months ago, asked if I wanted to be part of a spectacular revenge plot" Torres said finally, not noticing the blood draining away from Heather's face. Henderson. As in Jeremy Henderson. But how could the two have gotten together? Something didn't make sense.

"So let me get this straight.. Cannavale was undercover in another gang contracted to Henderson and now you're saying you're contracted to him?! No wonder things have gone up the creek for you" Gumushan responded in bewilderment. He'd seen plenty of undercover partnerships in his time but this was one he wasn't expecting. "Indeed I am contracted to him, but for good reason" Torres explained, himself ignoring the sarcastic rebuttal from Gumushan. "Being?" Heather asked, again trying to defuse a potential argument. "He wants me to help him with some kind of revenge plot against the government – or at least what's left of it and from what I can gather, it involves that weapon that attacked the Port" the Hispanic revealed, though his tone of voice as he finished speaking sounded a little uneasy. Heather rose an eyebrow. "So why do you need the launchers?" she pointed out, trying to sound like so though she was intrigued by what Torres was saying.

"They play a part in bringing down the government – Heller may be here but that doesn't mean his cabinet are" Torres explained, as Heather's mind started racing. She just wasn't sure on how to react to this latest admission. On the one hand, it meant that the Hispanic had no idea about Heller's condition and that he was assuming the President was still alive when she had in-fact overheard Jack talk about how Heller was still in a coma. But then there was the fact he talked about the cabinet not being in DC. It could only mean that Henderson and Torres were going after the Cabinet. But what neither one of Heather or Gumushan knew was that everything Torres had told them was actually a complete lie.

Torres had never even met Henderson before in his life. The Hispanic's plan of bringing down the Cabinet with the launchers was true, but that was it. His real intentions were to use the launchers to get close enough to Henderson so that he could kill him and honour Cannavale's last known intentions. As for what would happen next, that was largely irrelevant to him. The government had screwed him and the rest of Cannavale's crew over enough times that he didn't really care if and when anything happened to it. Just so long as he was able to kill Henderson.

–

 **White House Bunker**

The lights in the ceiling continued to flicker as Chloe made her way around the bunker, Novick following closely behind. The E.M.P had caused a lot more damage than Chloe had feared – large chunks of wall had collapsed and several Secret Service agents had been either seriously injured or killed, with Yanes' body having been found under a large wall panel. There was no way he could have survived something like that.

"Chloe!" a voice called and the former analyst turned to the left to see Kim rushing up through all the chaos happening around her. The two immediately embraced, Chloe willing to not let her slight awkwardness get the better of her. "Thank god you're okay.. what the hell happened?" Kim asked, indicating in-general towards the chaos. "I'm not really sure, but considering the lack of power, I reckon it's an electromagnetic pulse bomb. Where it could have detonated, your guess is as good as mine" Chloe responded, turning her head as Novick came up. "What chance do we have of restoring any kind of power?" the Acting President asked. The former analyst shook her head. "I honestly don't know. I did it before back in New York but even then, I had some luck in that the EMP was only small enough to devastate CTU – we don't know how big this one was" she confessed. "Well, for now, let's say that it was only the White House that was hit. Just focus on getting the power back and then we'll focus elsewhere" Novick suggested.

Chloe nodded. "Got it – Kim, with me" she turned to the younger girl before her and ordered her to follow. As the Acting President watched the two head off, a Secret Service agent tapped him on the shoulder. "Sir?" she spoke and Novick turned to face the young woman. "You better come with us, we just made an unexpected discovery" she explained further before walking off, Novick in pursuit. Back up ahead, Kim managed to move level with Chloe. "Remind me, Chloe – what exactly IS an electromagnetic pulse bomb?" she asked; whilst she had learnt about it in her time with CTU, many years had long passed and now she wasn't too sure. "Basically, it's a type of bomb that emits a pulse powerful enough to disable or even destroy all electrical circuitry within its blast radius. Only good thing about it is that it's completely non-lethal, that is unless you're physically right on top of it. If you're working in a top security building and an EMP is detonated, it likely means someone doesn't want you to uncover what they're doing" the former analyst explained. It was then Kim had a brainwave. "Right. But who exactly would do this?" she pointed out. It was then that Chloe stopped dead. "To be honest with you, Kim, it's not the who that's worrying me. It's the why, WHY would someone want to do this and WHY attack the White House?" she replied.

Kim pulled a face as she thought. "Who sticks out at the minute? It could only be Henderson or Benediktov and frankly..." she started only to be interrupted. "...this doesn't fit the actions of Benediktov" Chloe finished the sentence, trying to fit the pieces together. The two looked at each other. "Come on! Sooner we get the power sorted, the sooner we can figure it out!" the former analyst yelled as she ran down the corridor, Kim in hot pursuit.

–

 **White House**

"Come on! Come on, sir, don't leave like this!" Dr Burton hissed desperately as she pressed down on the pads that were positioned over President Heller's chest. She had been trying for over fifteen minutes to try and resuscitate him; as soon as the EMP had detonated and the electricity within the White House completely wiped out, the President had started to flatline. None of the medical staff could use the defibrillator owing to the loss of electricity, so they were forced to resort to doing it by hand – but the only problem was that was hardly doing anything.

"Ma'am..." a senior nurse started, trying to push her away from Heller. He knew there was nothing that could be done; but Burton wasn't about to give up. "NO! Can't you see? He's the President, we have a duty to keep going no matter what!" she insisted, only for another nurse to put his arm around her in sympathy. "Tanyel, honey.. I think he's been dead ever since the electricity went. It's only right we stop, there's nothing we can do" he replied. He could see into Burton's eyes and see that she was devastated at the thought of having to stop. This was one of the Presidents after all. But finally, she sighed. "Time... time of death... 09:07 hours" she said quietly but still loudly enough that others could hear. Some nurses looked away and some headed towards the window, shaken at the confirmation. They had just confirmed the death of the sitting President of the United States. None of them could believe it, James Heller – as in the James Heller that had survived being kidnapped by Turkish terrorists and nearly executed live on TV, the James Heller that had nearly put his life at risk to stop evidence incriminating corrupt President Charles Logan from falling into enemy hands and the James Heller that had just survived an attempt made on his life in London" - was dead.

–

09:07:45AM

One of the nurses that mentally told himself to stay behind and clean up what he could removed the pads from his chest, hearing what appeared to be tears from the doctor. He looked over at Burton, who was putting her hand across one of Heller's cheeks. "I'm.. I'm sorry, Mr President. I only wish I could have done more.." she said sadly. The guilt she felt was big. She honestly believed she could have done much more to help him. "Tan, it's ok. You were determined to carry on even when we thought you should have stopped. That's what the people will think of you, that you wanted to keep going" the nurse insisted, pulling the doctor into a hug. Burton slowly but surely began to calm down. Over by the window, another one of the nurses was looking outside at what he could of the DC city centre – and then something caught his attention, his eyes going wide. "What the DEVIL is that?!" he shouted, getting everyone else's attention. A Secret Service agent was first to the window and he instantly spotted what the nurse had seen. "I... I have no idea what that is" he could only splutter as two more nurses ran to the window to see what was going on. One looked upwards into the sky and his mouth dropped open. He was pretty certain he was looking at a fighter jet but this was no ordinary fighter jet – it was much much larger and had incredibly long wings. And it was starting to circle back where it came from, like it was patrolling the city.

"Is there any way of contacting the Acting President?" Burton asked and the Secret Service agent turned his head in surprise. He shook his head. "Whatever caused the power to fail, it's knocked out the communication. We'll try and establish contact but until then, we're on our own – and with whatever that thing is out there.." he replied before turning his head to point at the mysterious weapon flying over the city centre.

–

 **DC City Centre**

As a result of people trying to flee the city owing to the revelation of the flurry of attacks on DC, the streets were filled with cars trying to make it out of the city centre – but now those cars were being abandoned in droves, as people fled in the opposite direction and away from the weapon overflying them at breakneck pace. Some fled into the subway and some fled into houses and buildings whilst many others just hid where they could to avoid being in the line of fire, but all that mattered was that slowly but surely the streets were clearing fast.

And as far as Henderson was concerned, as he made his way across the direct middle of the bridge heading over the Potomac and back into the city centre, that was what he needed. If he was going to make what he was about to do a success, he needed the streets clear. He needed the pieces to come together at just the right time to put it all off. As the car that he was driving cleared the bridge, he peered out of the windscreen. Project Connaughton was circling the skies above him and ready to turn around for another patrol sweep. Henderson had wisely kept the super-weapon on A.I mode, meaning that it would continue sweeping the skies and surrounding areas until it detected a threat towards it – only then would it break from its patrols and move to eliminate the threat. That way, it would give him the time to complete what needed to be done and give his plan the best chance of success.

–

 **Baltimore City Centre**

"Come on, come on.." Jack muttered to himself as he held the radio to his mouth. He peered to his left at Belcheck, who was following the signs for the John Hopkins Hospital; they couldn't be far off from arriving and as soon as they were there, they couldn't sit around dawdling.

Finally, Jack got through. " _This is Air Force Two, who am I speaking to, over?_ " a female voice asked. "This is Jack Bauer, I need to speak with the Secretary of State immediately" the former agent insisted. " _Jack, it's me! You have no idea how much of a relief it is to hear you!_ " Gerrard responded, Jack's nerves easing as soon as he heard the unmistakable voice of the Secretary. "I'm sorry for not speaking to you sooner, sir, a lot's happened since we last spoke" the former agent explained as he looked over at Belcheck again. " _Don't worry, Jack –_ though to be fair, I've been trying to make contact with you for the last fifteen or so minutes. What the devil's going on in DC? We can't reach anyone if we tried!" the Secretary of State demanded in response. He heard a sigh. " _At present, I know as much as you do, sir_. We can't contact anyone in the city centre – the White House, the F.B.I, anyone! All communication has been cut off completely" Jack explained.

" _Yeah, that seems to be the working narrative as far as I can tell –_ what about the hunt for Benediktov, I heard he's already been caught?" Gerrard enquired. " _That's right, we got him. But there's been some_ developments since then; transpires there are more chess-players than we thought. Don't ask me how, but it's possible Benediktov was being used as an unknowing pawn to cover up someone else's involvement!" Jack replied, as Belcheck made another left-turn down the streets. The hospital was in sight. " _What?! How does that make sense?_ " Gerrard spluttered over the radio. "Believe me, sir, it's true. In fact, _we know someone has been manipulating the attacks to their own benefit and using Benediktov and his motives as a scapegoat_ " Belcheck suddenly interjected. The Secretary of State was taken aback by what he had been told. To learn that General Benediktov had been caught was one thing but to then learn that the General may have been used as an unwitting scapegoat was something else. "Alright, Jack... you're gonna have to tell me everything, from the start!" he replied sternly. " _I'm afraid that'll have to wait, sir –_ Belcheck and I have a helicopter to catch" Jack replied as the Serb mobster bought the car to a halt outside of the hospital entrance.

" _Alright. But I expect to hear from you within the next fifteen minutes_ " Gerrard insisted. "That's fine .." Jack started but then a thought hit him. "Sir, whereabouts are you currently?" he added. In the cockpit, Gerrard looked down at Captain Dana. "At present, Mr Bauer, we're not too far off Shepherd Field Air Base south of Martinsburg" she spoke into the radio. " _Right, ok – Mr Secretary,_ I suggest you land at Shepherd Field immediately. I have reason to suspect there may be a threat to you if you remain airborne" Jack insisted. Gerrard frowned. "I'm gonna need more information than that if you want us to land, Jack" he pointed out. " _I can't tell you now, sir. Give me a few minutes and I'll get back to you – but for now, LAND AT SHEPHERD FIELD!_ " the former agent snapped before turning off the radio and racing after Belcheck into the hospital's entrance point. He didn't want to have to be so forceful but he had no time to waste, he had to get back to the capital as soon as possible.

–

 **Outskirts of Baltimore**

Torres looked up at the rear-view mirror in-between himself and Heather, before looking down at the briefcase. "Alright, Mustafa. Here's where you earn your usefulness" he said out-loud before handing Gumushan the briefcase from behind.

The Turkish-Cyprian rose an eyebrow. "And what exactly do I have to do to earn this usefulness?" he asked dryly. The Hispanic smirked. "Take one of the launchers and program in these co-ordinates. High time we scared Henderson out of where-ever the sh*tbag is hiding and into the open!" he explained as he handed Gumushan a small piece of paper. Gumushan scanned it grimly, wondering what on earth Torres wanted him to target. He froze – he recognized the co-ordinates. "No.. please no, Torres. Anywhere but there, that's just.." he spluttered and pleaded. "..just where the President won't be expecting. But that's why I'm targeting it; DC's defences are down to its bare bones, they wouldn't be able to stop the missile even if they wanted to" the Hispanic replied coolly.

Heather stayed silent throughout the two men's interactions, slightly scared as to what Torres was planning on doing. Finally, Gumushan caved – he had no real choice considering that Torres currently held all the trump cards. "Alright, alright. I'll program it" he relented and pulled one of the launchers out. He couldn't believe what he was about to do; he was about to program and launch a missile targeted at the Pentagon. The Pentagon! He would try and take his time as much as possible, in the hopes that some distraction might come, but he knew that everything he would try might come back to haunt him. He couldn't even try just plotting in a new set of co-ordinates as Torres might inspect the launcher before the missile itself was launched from the sea-bed. The best shot he really had was to hope someone or something ambushed them and he could change the co-ordinates whilst Torres was not looking.

A few miles behind the BMW, meanwhile, the police car that Sokolov had stolen was racing along down the same road that the BMW had taken. The Russian operative kept a careful eye out, not just on the road but also the rear-view mirrors – she had lost the pursuing police for now, but it was only a matter of time before they caught up and for her sake, she hoped it would be just as she had caught up with Torres. In the back of the police car, meanwhile, General Benediktov had kept strangely silent ever since they'd left the Port. Ever since he'd been recruited by Jack to help, ever since he'd landed at the Port and Cannavale had made his death-bed confession that Henderson had been one of the key masterminds of the events of the last 24 hours and ever since Torres had made his escape with the missile launchers, he had been thinking deeply about everything he himself had done. As he'd realized beforehand, Henderson had tricked him into attacking Guardstrom HQ. His original plans had been to get close enough to the East Coast and launch the missiles at various targets in DC – but then the lies he had been tricked into believing had probably made things worse.

If it hadn't been for him believing the lies, he wouldn't have attacked Guardstrom HQ in the manner that he did and then Henderson wouldn't have used the distraction to get his hands on the super-weapon. As a result, his intended plans were slipping away from him fast and if he wasn't careful, the situation had the potential to brew into a possible World War Three. Granted, the General still had a dying hatred of America but his original plans were simple – he knew and the American presidency knew that each of the countries that had its citizens within the A.F.E had widely condemned the group as nothing more than "far-right fascists", meaning that this wasn't a sanctioned attack; Benediktov himself had no real intentions to kill the President, just destroy everything around him much like what happened with the September 11th attacks. However, as a result of him losing control of the missile launchers and taking into account Henderson's own plans of revenge against the government, the chance that the situation could be mistaken as the A.F.E indeed trying to kill the President was very much alive. No matter what happened, the chances that the A.F.E and therefore the majority of European countries would be blamed were very strong and then the world would plunge into war, all based on a misunderstanding.

He had to do something – he couldn't believe he was thinking this but if he wanted to save the world from war and save the A.F.E from being defamed as the front for one of the most horrific terror attacks the world had seen, he would have to stop Henderson and as such, save the very country he hated. It was a thought he would have dared not think about five hours ago but now it was a real possibility. He simply had to do something, anything. Suddenly, he was pulled out of his thoughts by Sokolov. "God damn it!" she hissed in frustration as she pushed down on the car's accelerator. Benediktov looked behind him and through the car's rear-view windscreen – the police cars pursuing them were now in clear view and catching up to them. "Hang on, General. Things are gonna get a bit rocky for the next few minutes!" she continued, as she revved up the engine and sped down the road.

Putting this fingers against the grating that separated the back seats and front seats, Benediktov looked back at the pursuing cars. "Sokolov! I think I may have an idea – something that'll enable us to sneak up on Torres!" he insisted. The Russian agent rose an eyebrow at the General's offer of help as the car continued down the road at speed.

–

 **DC City Centre**

Project Connaughton raced through the skies above the city centre as Henderson continued on through the streets and slowly down the direct middle of roads. Finally, he emerged from the continued lines of abandoned cars and came to a stop. He opened the car door and hauled himself out, the controls in hand. He had to plan his next move – but before he could walk even a few steps, a strange noise came from the car. He stopped and turned his head. Listening carefully, he quickly realized that he could hear words coming from the front seat. He re-opened the car door and listened, quickly realizing the words were coming from the car's radio. _"Repeat, is anyone there? Please, if you're listening, respond!_ " the voice on the radio cried, like as though they had been repeating the same words over and over for some time.

Henderson was tempted to respond, but then decided to wait and see if he either recognized the voice on the radio or if that same voice would go on to explain what they needed help with. " _This is Agent Aaron Pierce, will somebody please respond? I am en-route to the city, but I'm unable to make contact with the White House_ " the voice continued, revealing itself to be Aaron Pierce. Henderson froze at the mention of the name. Pierce, as in the Agent Pierce who had played a part in bringing down the conspiracy involving his own father and President Logan all those years ago. The last he had heard of him, he was living somewhere in the North East of America – so for him to be on his way to DC, he must be with someone important.

He had to find out but without giving himself away. But then unexpectedly, his chance to find out more came about just like that. " _Hello, Kim? Are you there? If you are, please pick up. It's Stephen – and I'm worried for you. I've been trying to reach you for the last 15 minutes but you won't pick up. If you get this, please just respond.._ " another voice said. At that point, Agent Pierce's voice could be heard again but Henderson didn't pay much attention to it. It made sense now – Pierce was en-route to DC with Kim's family. Which meant in turn, Jack's family. An idea started to form in Henderson's mind, an idea that would more than likely lure Jack Bauer towards him.

09:13:06AM

–

09:16:57AM

 **John Hopkins Hospital**

The door to the roof of the hospital slammed open, Jack and Belcheck emerging before the door even had a chance to slam into the metal gantry positioned right next to it. Whilst the pair had been slightly delayed as a result of having to convince both hospital security and senior doctors that they needed a lift to DC, they managed to win them over by having them try to contact a hospital in DC and then be met with static. As such, the senior doctor on duty contacted the helicopter pilots that were preparing to go to DC and ordered them to remain on the roof until Jack and Belcheck were on-board.

"Mr Bauer!" a voice called and the former agent turned to see one of the air ambulance pilots waving at him. Not needing to be told twice, Jack raced over towards the helicopter with the Serb mobster following behind. "Thank you for waiting" Jack said, shaking the hand of the pilot as he made his way onto the air ambulance. "No worries – as soon as Dr Steper explained what was going on, we're more than happy to provide you with a lift to the capital" the pilot insisted, also shaking Belcheck's hand as the man in question climbed into the aircraft. He made his way towards where Jack had placed himself and sat down, the pilot closing the door. "Alrighty – with regards to when we'll be arriving in the city centre, it'll be within the next 35 minutes. I know you need to get there soon but that's the fastest we can really go with this thing" the second pilot explained as she started to power up the rotors. It took several seconds to kick in, but finally the rotor on the very top of the helicopter began to spin, its speed picking up. "Have you had any luck in trying to contact someone in DC?" Jack asked as he buckled himself in, knowing what the likely answer would end up being but also aware that the pilots may have attempted to make contact so that they themselves could be certain this wasn't a hoax. "Afraid not, sir. I tried several connections I have with various DC hospitals within the city centre, but none of them worked" the pilot explained, watching her colleague sit down next to her.

At long last, the rotors reached a high-enough speed for the helicopter to lift off and it slowly left the helipad. "We'll be back in approximately two hours, Dr Steper – maybe more depending on what the hell's going on in the city centre" the male pilot spoke into his radio. " _Acknowledged_. _Don't worry about how long it takes, just get Bauer there and keep safe_ " a male voice replied, before the pilot put the radio back onto his control column. Jack immediately unbuckled his seatbelt and walked up to the pilots, handing the female one a folded sheet of paper. She took it, a curious expression on her face. "The Secretary of State may try to contact me, use this frequency" the former agent said simply. The pilots exchanged a look of surprise at the mention of the "Secretary of State". "Ok, with all respect intended Jack.. what ON EARTH is going on? All contact with the entire DC centre lost, no mention of the President, not to mention all those attacks this morning – just what the frick is happening?" the female pilot demanded to know. Jack sighed and exchanged a look with Belcheck, who was in the middle of unfastening his own seatbelt. He could see in the Serb's eyes that he was saying "just tell them". And he realized that it was likely that if and when he became President, Gerrard would likely explain what he could tell.

"Alright... look, we've got some time. I need to inform the Secretary of State of what's been happening, so you can find out when I call him" the former agent conceded as the helicopter flew away from the hospital and south, towards DC.

–

 **White House Bunker**

Within the part of the bunker with all the electronics, Chloe was sitting on the floor in the middle of a mass of cables strewn everywhere. Kim was standing next to a control column with a large lever positioned downwards. "Come on, come on.." the former analyst hissed desperately, trying to find the spark that would bring on the back-up generators to the bunker. Kim was looking anxious as she watched.

"That might be it! Kim, try it now!" Chloe unintentionally snapped but Kim took no notice of how the instruction was said, instead grabbing a hold of the lever with both hands and slowly pushing it upwards until it was in the up position. Slowly but surely, the darkened room began to lighten up – until finally, there was some degree of light within the room. "Well, that's something at least. Try the radio" the former analyst sighed in relief before ordering Kim to try and see if the restored power affected any other parts of the bunker. "Hello? Testing, how's the power looking?" Kim spoke into the handheld radio. Several seconds went by until there finally came a response. " _This is Novick. Well done you two, we've managed to get some power back!_ " the Acting President confirmed, bringing a sigh of relief from Chloe who got to her feet. "Sir, it's Chloe. How much power to be precise?" she responded. " _Well.. enough that we can start_ to clear this place up, restore order" Novick responded as he handed a first-aid kit to one of the Secret Service agents.

" _But not enough to deactivate the lockdown or return to the surface?_ " the former analyst pointed out. At that, the Acting President started to make his response but stopped. Chloe had just made a very good point. As a result of the chaos that had come about, no-one had given any consideration to whether or not they would have enough power to get out of the bunker. Novick looked up at the ceiling; whilst there was light, it wasn't as strong as it was before the loss of power and that meant there probably wouldn't be enough electricity to escape the bunker. "At present, I don't think so" he conceded. That was all Chloe needed. " _Right, okay_. Kim, go and help the others. I'm gonna try and get the power back to full" she ordered. Kim looked surprised. "But what if you need any more help?" she argued. "It's ok! Honestly, Kim.. I know what I need to do. Just go, please!" the former analyst snapped once again – but only this time, she realized she probably had gone a little too far. She looked up to see Kim heading towards the door. "Kim, wait.." she pleaded and the younger woman turned her head, the hurt showing in her eyes.

"Sorry for being harsh.. but honestly, I'll be fine. You'll be better help to everyone else than being stuck here doing nothing" Chloe apologized, being genuinely sincere for the first time in quite a few hours. Kim smiled, as if to say it was ok, before leaving. Sighing, the former analyst sat back down to work on getting the power fully restored.

–

 **Outskirts of Baltimore**

The BMW was still racing along the roads surrounding Baltimore, on the edge of a small area called Hanover and as Heather quickly noticed thanks to a road-side sign, only a few minutes away from arriving on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. The young girl knew that if something didn't happen beforehand, she wouldn't be able to stop the BMW and would have to drive down the parkway until they reached DC. In the back, as he slowly made the final preparations to the launcher, Gumushan was also aware that once they were on the Parkway, Torres would be able to launch the missiles at free will – being on the Parkway meant that there was no way of escape and therefore the Hispanic had the upper hand.

"Are you quite finished yet, Mustafa?" Torres said impatiently. Gumushan had tried what he could to delay giving him the launcher and had even given consideration to just typing in a new location instead of the Pentagon but he knew that no matter what he did, Torres would find out about it and the consequences would certainly not be pretty. Slowly, he handed the Hispanic the launcher. "Excellent.. we're ready to begin and there's no way the presidency will not think it's the General" Torres remarked as he scanned the launcher. In front of the BMW and on the road, there was a crossroad just before the road headed towards the Parkway – and just as the vehicle moved onto the crossroad, that's when it happened. Literally right as Torres was about to launch the missile, a police car smashed into the back left-hand side of the BMW, missing Heather by not much and missing Gumushan purely by virtue he was positioned in the back right-hand seat of the vehicle. As for Torres, his grip on the launcher was loosened and it went flying into the back seat, onto the top of the broken glass. Unable to keep control, the BMW swerved 180 degrees and ended up facing the police car.

Torres shook out of the shock of the car slamming into them and looked forward for just a split second. His eyes rose at who he saw in the police car – it was the surviving Russian agent from the Port of Baltimore in the drivers seat and behind her, he could make out General Benediktov. They had somehow found him, even after the head-start he had gained. Without wasting a second, the Hispanic pulled his gun out and pointed it at Heather. "Reverse! Get us onto that freeway now!" he snarled. Not needing to be told twice on the basis she had a gun pointed at her, Heather forced the gears into reverse and pressed down on the accelerator, keeping an eye on what was now behind her instead of in front of her. From inside the police car, Sokolov could see the BMW going backwards towards the Parkway. "No you don't!" she hissed as she also slammed on the accelerator. Looking through the rear windscreen of the BMW, Torres looked at the road leading towards the Parkway and spotted cars coming down it towards them. They were going on the wrong ramp and going it backwards was even worse. He grabbed a hold of the steering wheel and pulled it sharply to the right, forcing the gear-stick into a forward position.

On the outside, the car violently spun until it was facing forwards towards the Parkway ramp – and as soon as it was in the right direction, it sped forward. Sokolov, hell-bent on catching Torres, grabbed the gear-stick and slammed back down on the accelerator. The two cars edged closer and closer to the ramp, until Gumushan frowned. He thought he could hear sirens behind them, but further inspection through the rear windscreen showed that the sirens were not coming from the car driven by Sokolov. But then he saw what was happening – behind Sokolov's car and emerging from the crossroads where they had collided, a stream of police cars came into view. "Torres, you better see this" the Turkish-Cyprian insisted and Torres peered through the mirror. His eyes shot up at the sight of the police cars. "Damn it! Those bloody Russians won't leave well enough alone! Well no matter, we'll lose them in this traffic!" he snapped. The BMW finally climbed onto the ramp and up towards the Parkway, managing to dodge traffic coming downwards. However, even this didn't deter Sokolov or Benediktov as the police car raced up the ramp, either dodging the traffic or slamming into them if they were directly in the way.

Finally, the BMW moved onto the Parkway and raced through the approaching traffic – with both Sokolov's police car and the pursuing police cars racing after them. The chase was on!

–

 **DC City Centre**

"Brilliant, thank you!" Henderson spoke into his phone before hanging up. Thank god the 4G signal is still intact around here, he thought to himself. As soon as he had found out that Pierce was en-route to the city with Jack's family, he had been trying to find a means of contacting the agent without giving himself away. He had a disposable phone, all he needed were Pierce's contact details and to get them, he had had to speak with one of Pierce's former employees. Granted, it was tricky as he couldn't give too much away without the former employee getting suspicious over his intentions, but he finally managed to get them.

Now he needed to phone the man in general and convince him he was an ally. Henderson knew very well that Aaron Pierce was somebody who could tell really well if someone could be trusted or not. Whether or not he would believed in the long run was one thing, but for now he just needed him on side until 10am. He slowly typed in the number given to him and was about to enter the final number when he was once again interrupted by the car's radio inexplicably coming to life. " _This is Captain Raymond Gruber of the Baltimore police calling any officer in the Maryland vicinity! Repeat, this is Captain Raymond Gruber of the Baltimore police calling any officer in the Maryland vicinity! We are in need of assistance, we are pursuing armed hostiles on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Hostages have been taken from the Port of Baltimore and we need immediate assistance!_ " the radio practically screamed. Captain Gruber was actually the senior police officer that had indirectly assisted Sokolov in hijacking the police car carrying Benediktov, but this was something Henderson could not have know – what Henderson did know, however, was that the man on the radio had mentioned "hostages", the "Baltimore-Washington Parkway" and the "Port of Baltimore". There was only one conclusion he could draw from this. Cannavale. There was no way Benediktov could have gotten to Baltimore considering he had the police on his tail, it simply had to be Cannavale.

"For gods... for gods sake, Cannavale, why won't you JUST DIE?!" he nearly screamed in frustration. Cannavale coming back to DC was the last thing he needed, he was going to completely mess up his laid plans for sure. Regaining his composure, Henderson instead reached for the controls to Project Connaughton and made a note of the frequency the radio had picked up. Most police cars would operate on the same frequency which meant that the super-weapon would get close, if not very close, to hitting its intended target. "Alright, Cannavale.. you leave me no choice. Prepare to meet your maker" Henderson said quietly as he plotted the new co-ordinates into the super-weapon's controls. Finally, he pressed the green button and peered out of the windscreen. In the skies, Project Connaughton was directly above him until suddenly, its spinning sphere turned sharply to the top-left. " _New instructions received! Heading to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway!_ " the computer-like voice exclaimed before the whole weapon began to veer in the same direction. Suddenly, its jet-like engines roared to life and the whole super-weapon picked up speed as it vanished through the clouds and out of sight.

At that, Henderson would have returned to trying to make the phone call to Agent Pierce.. but then a thought sprung to mind. He had been parked in the same place for the last five or so minutes and anyone who might potentially be watching for whatever reason would naturally get suspicious – the streets of Washington DC were empty except for one man who does nothing but speak into a radio or speak into his phone. He would have to move to somewhere more in the city centre and then try to get through to Pierce. His mind made up, he climbed back into the car and started up the engine, driving off down the middle of the empty road.

–

 **American Airspace**

" _Alright, Jack._ Now that I've heard it all from you, things start to make a bit more sense.. I don't agree with your allying with Benediktov but I recognize we didn't _really have much choice!_ " Gerrard conceded as Air Force Two flew through the skies and whilst the helicopter carrying Jack and Belcheck made its way towards the capital city.

"Trust me, sir, I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think it a sensible idea" the former agent responded, ignoring the shocked stares he had gotten from the helicopter pilots ever since he revealed the alliance with Benediktov. " _That's fine, I trust you to do whatever you need to do._ But just out of interest, where is the General now?" the Secretary of State inquired. At that, Jack swallowed. He knew Gerrard wasn't too happy about allying with an enemy of the country and to admit that he'd played a part in him being freed by Sokolov would have made things even worse. "He's currently under guard; if we need him, we'll call for him" the former agent lied. " _That's fine. Any more luck in contacting the White House itself?_ " Gerrard added. "Nothing yet, sir. _I know Chloe's in the bunker and she'll do what it takes to restore power if anything but until then.._ " Jack explained.

"That's fine, I've read Chloe's file. I trust her instinct and have faith in her" the Secretary stated before being signalled by Captain Dana. He recognized what she was trying to tell him. "Jack, I'll have to get back to you later. We're approaching the Air Base, we need the radio to get permission to land" he added. " _Don't worry, sir. If there's an emergency, just let me know immediately_ " Jack insisted before hanging up. As soon as the airwaves were clear, the captain moved into position. "This is Air Force Two calling Shepherd Field Tower, come in please!" she spoke into the radio. Gerrard turned around so his back was to the pilots and pulled a face. It was good something was finally happening, but he had a feeling everything was too easy and he couldn't figure out why for the life of him.

–

 **Baltimore-Washington Parkway**

"Swerve! Come on, swerve, get them out of the way!" Torres roared instructions in the ears of Heather as they raced in-between oncoming traffic in the slight hope that they would manage to get some space between them and the police car driven by Sokolov. But no matter what they did, Sokolov proved to be just as good a driver and she expertly avoided each vehicle coming into her path.

As another approaching car swerved to avoid being hit by the BMW, Gumushan found himself being jostled about in the back. But as he smacked his head against the upholstered seats, he spotted something in the corner of his eye. Looking down, amid the glass on the right-hand seat, he could see the launcher. Making sure that Torres couldn't see what he was about to do, he grabbed it and scanned the upper side where he had inserted the targeting co-ordinates. To his relief, the missile hadn't launched. Provided that he was not going to be caught in the act, he could reprogram the co-ordinates and use it to off Torres. He looked up at the Hispanic and quietly set to work, praying that the man in question didn't spot him.

Further back, as Sokolov swerved to the left to avoid an oncoming van, Benediktov looked behind him through the rear windscreen and at the pursuing police cars. In one of the lead cars was Captain Gruber and whilst he had discreetly helped to free the Russian General at Jack's request, to his fellow officers he was hell-bent on catching the Russians in front of them. If they could get the people in the BMW at the same time, that would help immensely, he thought to himself. He grabbed his radio once again; it was a good thing he was on the only one in the car as what he was about to do was lie to his officers once again. "This is Captain Gruber, I've been given some further information by our superiors! There is a BMW that the stolen patrol car is chasing, we have been ordered to stop them as well! Repeat, _the BMW ahead of us – stop it at all costs!_ " he explained. Something else that the officers were not aware of was that his false message also acted as a means of contact with Sokolov. He was trying to alert her, without giving the game away, that the police were not just pursuing her and Benediktov – they were going to try and stop Torres himself. The Russian agent, having heard the transmission, sighed in relief.

"Watch out!" she suddenly heard Benediktov yell and she swerved just in time, just avoiding slamming head-on into an oncoming car – however, as a result of both cars swerving, the oncoming car rolled straight onto its side and slid straight into the path of one of the police cars, both smashing together and sending the police car right into the path of another police car. Both came together as the motorcade of cruisers swerved to avoid hitting the cars and get back to following Sokolov. The Russian agent shook her head vigorously as Benediktov put himself straight up against the railings. "Pull yourself together! If we roll over at this speed, we'll never catch him!" he snapped. Whilst she wanted to respond and let out her growing rage, she knew the General was right. Instead, she grabbed the clutch and moved it into the highest gear possible before slamming down on the accelerator. They had to get really close to even try and stop Torres.

Within the BMW, even with everything happening around him, Gumushan had somehow managed to key in the altered co-ordinates without being spotted. He looked over them one last time before looking upwards at Torres. "Torres! What about the missile?!" he shouted, the Hispanic turning his body. He finally responded after several seconds. "Do it! If anything, it may help distract the police should we get to DC!" he nodded. Not needing to be told twice, the Turkish-Cyprian looked down at the changed co-ordinates and took a deep breath. He pressed down on the button. He had essentially just programmed a missile to target the car and himself.

On the sea-bed of the North Atlantic, meanwhile, the Yuri Dolgorukiy sat still. The Olympia had long gone, leaving the Borei-class submarine alone at the bottom of the ocean. Wreckage from Project Connaughton's attack on the salvage operation was either floating above the submarine or on the water's surface. For a time, it was still and quiet – until a hatch on the submarine's missile compartment opened up. Seconds later, a MIRV missile shot out of the compartment and up and out of the water in such a short space of time that if anyone saw it, it would have been just a blur. The missile flew into the sky, before sharply changing direction – like the previous few missiles before it, it was headed towards the East Coast.

–

09:26:29AM

 **White House Bunker**

In the room storing the back-up power, Chloe grabbed the power lever with both hands and prepared to push it into the up position – she could only hope this would work. She'd had an easier time of trying to restore power in New York following the E.M.P attack, but this had been a completely different ball game. Finally, she pushed it up and waited. It took a few seconds but the minimum power she'd managed to restore shut up momentarily and came back, only with a lot more light to it. The former analyst sighed in relief, if anything she had gotten more power to the bunker.

She still had a ways to go if she wanted to get the power back to maximum but for now, she was sure she'd restored the communications between the White House proper and the bunker. " _You've done it, Chloe! We've got communication with the surface back! Well done_ " she heard Novick speak over the radio and she sighed in relief. As for the Acting President, he immediately set his sights on the radio system they had in the bunker that enabled them to speak with the surface. "Alright, let's get some news" he ordered the radio operator who didn't need to be told twice. "This is the bunker calling the surface, over!" she spoke into the radio. Several seconds ticked by and the operator was about to repeat her message when she finally got a reply. " _Roger, this is the White House! Are you there, Mr President?_ " a voice replied. Novick was surprised, he was pretty sure the voice he heard was that of Dr Burton.

"Yes, that's me Dr Burton! Everything ok up there?" the Acting President responded. " _Yes, sir. We've got power back_ – we're currently trying to figure out what the hell happened that we lost power to begin with" the Doctor responded, as Secret Service agents behind her scrambled about. " _Fair enough; we've obviously got power but we're just waiting for the back-up to truly kick in._ At present, we don't have enough to deactivate the lock-down procedure" Novick explained. " _Alright, anything you need us to do?_ " Burton asked. Novick thought for a second and quickly realized. "Try and get in touch with _Jack Bauer – he needs to know we're ok and still going!_ " he ordered. "Got it – OH.. and something else, sir.." Burton responded before quickly realizing she needed to come clean about an additional matter. Novick rose an eyebrow. "Go on.." he said, having a sneaking feeling that what he was going to be told was not good. The Doctor sighed. "Well... as a result of the electricity cutting off, the medical bay was also hit. _We... we tried what we could.. but I'm afraid, sir..._ President Heller passed away 20 minutes ago. The loss of power and life support was just too much.." she confessed, trying very hard not to start crying again.

In the bunker, the news hit Novick like a ton of bricks. Various agents, including Kim who had been helping with first-aid, stopped dead and looked towards the Acting President in shock. James Heller had passed away. A sitting President was dead. Novick had no idea how to respond. " _Sir? Mr Novick?_ " Burton said over the radio, growing concerned at the lack of response. "Just.. just contact Jack Bauer please" he said finally before shutting off the radio. He needed time to think. Around him, the various agents could only watch. What was the next step for the country? There was still a massive threat to the whole country somewhere in Virginia, one false step could spell disaster for just about everyone and anyone.

–

 **Baltimore-Washington Parkway**

In the skies above the parkway directly north of DC, Project Connaughton was racing upwards and towards the chase scene. All of a sudden, the spinning sphere turned sharply to the right. " _Ballistic missile detected. No threat to weapon. Begin evasive procedures_ " the voice declared before turning to the left. As it did this, the missile came into view and flew right past it at an incredible speed.

Down on the parkway, meanwhile, the BMW continued to swerve past oncoming traffic in the hopes that the swerving vehicles would collide with the pursuing police cars – but whilst Heather proved to be driving well under the pressure, Sokolov was a very experienced driver and racing against the traffic was something she actually had done before. As she rounded two crashed cars to avoid a collision, Benediktov suddenly had a brainwave. He pushed himself back against the inside railings. "How close do you think you could get?" he asked. The Russian agent's eyes shot up. "It depends on whether the BMW slows down.. why?" she replied. What she wasn't expecting was for the General to kick open the back left-side door. "I'm gonna climb on the roof, see if we can get close enough for me to jump onto the BMW. They won't be expecting that!" he declared as he slowly made his way out.

Sokolov could only watch through the mirror in-between the two front seats in shock, but then had to return her attention to the road ahead of her. As the General forced himself out into the open and slowly made his way onto the roof, Torres could see what was happening behind him. "What the hell is he doing? He can't honestly think.." he spluttered before being interrupted by Heather swerving sharply to the left to avoid a head-on collision with a bus. On the police car, the General finally got his full body on the roof and made sure he wouldn't be able to fall off. This could either go really well or badly wrong, Benediktov thought to himself. He had a close encounter with two cars and a van, but was saved thanks to Sokolov's quick thinking and driving. As for the BMW, as hard as Heather tried, her attempts to put space between her and the police car were starting to fade – and it was made worse by her latest attempts to avoid on-coming traffic as she accidentally clipped the side of a sportscar and went flying into a van, slamming into it and pushing both vehicles up against the concrete walls.

Everyone inside seemed ok, though Torres looked like he was momentarily out of it. To Heather, she had a split second choice – she could either stay where she was and wait for the police to catch up which was risky considering her front-seat passenger, or she could just take the easy option and continue with the chase. She opted to appease her captor, slamming the car into reverse and pulling the BMW free of the van before continuing on towards DC. But as a result of the car reversing, she had allowed Sokolov and the police cars to close the gap – so much so that Sokolov and Benediktov managed to draw level. Torres finally managed to regain his senses and as he looked out to his right, his eyes widened at the sight of the Russians. Quickly looking behind him, his breath accelerated as he saw the police cars closing in. Things were going south rapidly. "What are you waiting for? LEFT!" he roared at Heather, who turned the steering wheel left. Benediktov sensed what the Hispanic was trying to do and leapt into action, quite literally. "Oh no you don't!" he hissed as he got to his legs and jumped from the roof of the police car.

As it stood, Heather swerving to the left actually proved to be a good thing for the General – because of the gap between both cars, had she started where she was, Benediktov would have likely landed face-first on the roof of the BMW. However, because of her moving, he was instead able to get a hand-held grab on the roof bars and slam his body against the front passenger door, a move that Torres clearly wasn't expecting. "Shake him off!" he ordered, though this time more out of fear and desperation more than anything else. Heather swerved to the left and swerved to the right as she pressed her foot down on the accelerator, but Benediktov kept holding onto the roof bars. He was not letting go for anything and he made that particularly clear through his next move. Using the momentum from Heather swinging the car to the left and then to the right, he smashed his fist into the door window and smashed it, taking both Heather and Torres by surprise.

"Hello, you bastard! Remember me?" the Russian roared as he took his free hand and grabbed the Hispanic's throat. Torres fought desperately to try and free himself, whilst Heather could only alternate between watching the scuffle and watching the road. Slightly further back, Gruber could see what was unfolding – he was about to grab his radio and get his men to move in closer now that they had just the one target, the BMW. But then as he looked outwards once again, he stopped. He frowned as he was sure he could see something rocketing towards the Parkway from the sky. He wasn't the only one as now Sokolov could see it coming as well. As it came closer and closer, it quickly became apparent what it was and a chill ran through her body. Whoever had control of the launchers appeared to be firing one on themselves. She had to warn the General and she pressed down on the accelerator as hard as she could, swerving through the traffic at almost impossible speeds.

The missile came closer and closer to the Parkway and it was only then that Torres, still wrestling with Benediktov, saw it. "What the..." he said, attracting the attention of just about everyone around him, who spotted the missile coming downwards. It edged closer and closer – and Heather, not needing to be told the obvious, swung the car to her right but timed it so perfectly that the missile missed them by inches. It's targeting system kicking in, it levelled out and became to turn – but because of the tightness of its turning, it instead unwittingly found a brand new target, the large number of police cars. Gruber saw this, but saw it much too late to do anything as the missile slammed directly into his police car. The car exploded on impact and created shockwaves that affected every car around it – unfortunately for the police, that included them. The cars either smashed into each other, ignited in a fireball that completely decimated the vehicles or turned over. Either way, the destruction of Gruber's car created a massive chain reaction of cars crashing and the missile warheads detonating.

But to Sokolov as well as everyone on the BMW, all they could really see was a massive ball of black smoke lofting into the air. A cold chill was sent down the spines of Torres and Heather as the impact of what they had just avoided hit home – but for Torres, his horror was replaced by growing anger. He turned to look at Gumushan. "AND WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! YOU PROGRAMMED THE MISSILE TO HIT US?!" he snarled. "..I only did it to get rid of you! YOU are absolutely insane, can you not see what your actions have done?!" Gumushan said coldly, trying his level best not to lose his patience. The Hispanic had truly lost his mind and his anger was showing this. Torres shook his head. "No matter.. you've outlived your usefulness anyway. I'll make sure to dump your body somewhere that your people can find it" he replied coldly, pulling out his gun and making sure it was loaded before unfastening his seatbelt.

Gumushan's breathing elevated as he knew he couldn't get out of this. But what no-one realized within all this was that Benediktov was still on the BMW. When Torres had first checked the explosion behind him, he couldn't see the General on the side of the car. He presumed he must have therefore been knocked off. But no-one had realized was he was still there with them. "How about we dump your body?!" a new voice cried and before Torres could do anything, Benediktov swung his way into the car and grabbed a hold of the Hispanic, making him release his grip on the gun. The General managed to get his arm around Torres' neck and the two once again began wrestling, Heather trying her best to carry on driving at speed against the traffic. Sokolov could see what was going and could not believe it – where had this energy from Benediktov come? Only a few hours ago, he had been hell-bent on destroying the country. Ten minutes ago, he had appeared remorseful for his actions and was keeping a calm composure. Now he was trying to fight back and save America? She could only question what was happening in his head.

Inside the BMW, Benediktov was trying what he could to at least knock Torres out but the Hispanic was fighting back. "You, cyprian! The gun!" the Russian shouted desperately and whilst it took a few seconds for Gumushan to figure out what he meant, he picked up the gun and started to try and give it to him, thinking that was what he meant. "No! No, use it! Kill him!" the General insisted as he wrestled with Torres. Sokolov could see what was happening and immediately swerved in the lane next to the BMW to try and lend as best a hand she could. Normally Gumushan was very good at holding and shooting a gun but considering he was doing it in a moving vehicle and the target in front of him was practically moving around, he found himself struggling to aim and fire the pistol. Finally, he was able to get the gun in line with Torres – he prepared to fire but at that moment, Heather swerved to avoid an oncoming van which knocked the Turkish-Cyprian off balance and he accidentally fired at the windscreen, barely missing Benediktov.

"Careful!" the Russian hissed, as Torres kicked the car door open with enough force that a car driving right past it ripped it right off and it smashed into the right-hand side of the police car's windscreen, missing Sokolov by inches. Gumushan readied up another shot and this time, after considering going for the Hispanic's head, leant to the leg and quickly identified his left leg. Closing his eyes, he fired. The screams he could hear immediately after were definitely from Torres, he had gotten the target. Taking advantage and with one final kick, Benediktov kicked Torres out of the car – and straight into the path of a large truck. Sokolov swerved out of the way of the truck and peered out as best as she could. She could see the still body of Torres on the road, no chance he survived that. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, Benediktov sat down in the vacated seat. He actually couldn't believe he had just done that. He looked over at Heather. "Nice bit of driving there" he finally said before looking back at Gumushan. "I think a well done is in order for the both of you. Targeting the missile to hit this car and then taking to avoid being hit, even against the odds? I'm impressed" he added.

Both Heather and Gumushan were surprised at his comments. In particular, Heather mentally noted that this was a complete change of personality from the General especially considering how easily he surrendered and then offered to assist in catching Henderson just over an hour ago. There was silence until Gumushan broke the deadlock. "I.. presume you want these?" he said, giving the General the briefcase. Benediktov peered inside and to his relief, there were nine unused launchers as he had expected – one had been used on the plane carrying the Chief of Staff, another on the carrier during their attempt to kill Jack, three during the initial battle with the blockade, another presumably used by Cannavale as he would have been stupid to not use one and then one used by Gumushan just now. He peered to his right to see Sokolov alongside the car and indicated to her to lower her window, which she did. "CONTACT BAUER! TELL HIM THE LAUNCHERS ARE SAFE!" he yelled as loud as he had ever yelled in his life. But thankfully, the Russian agent heard him and gave a thumbs up in reply.

Heather began to slow the BMW down – they were no longer being chased and sooner or later, they would be able to get off the parkway and change to the opposite set of lanes; at least then, they would be going to DC in the right direction. But as she looked out at the road and then the sky, she frowned. She thought that much like with the missile, there was something coming towards them from the sky. "Can you two see that?" she said and Benediktov leaned forward as best as he could – thankfully, only the middle of the windscreen had been broken by Gumushan's firing of the gun so people could see outside fairly well. He too could see something coming downwards. "It.. looks like a fighter jet" he said, unsure of what it was. His suspicions growing, Gumushan lowered his door window and looked up at the sky. His blood ran cold. "That's the weapon that attacked the port!" he yelled and both Heather and Benediktov realized what he meant. Then the Russian noticed the slip road off the parkway ahead. "The slip road, come on!" he ordered Heather who spun the steering wheel sharply to the right and against the slowing streams of traffic.

By now, Project Connaughton was getting closer to the parkway and ready to start targeting. The onboard computer quickly spotted the car driven by Sokolov and scanned it. " _Hostile target! Commence firing!_ " it declared before one of the panels on the wings was opened up. The targeting system got its target and a missile was promptly fired from the wing. Because she had been so focused on the BMW and the roads, Sokolov had failed to spot the looming super-weapon above her and only looked up at the sky just in time to see the missile coming down towards her. The Russian agent had no time to react before the missile slammed into the car and exploded on impact. The shock-waves sent it flying off of its back wheels and onto its back, sliding down the road for quite a distance before stopping. The chances of Sokolov surviving were next to nothing.

Benediktov heard the explosion and looked around just in time to see the car flipping over. It quickly became apparent to him that the destroyed car was that of Sokolov's, but he had no time to react. The weapon was closing in on the BMW. "Step on it!" he yelled and Heather didn't need to be told twice as she raced onto the slip road. But Project Connaughton immediately flew back upwards and turned sharply to the left until the bottom of the slip road was in its sight. As soon as the BMW was off the slip road, Heather immediately turned to the left and away from the weapon as fast as she could – but that decision proved to be costly without anyone knowing as it gave the onboard computer time to scan the car, deem it hostile and target it with the targeting system. " _Firing now!_ " the voice declared as a second missile was fired from the wings.

At that, it happened. The missile ended up missing and hitting an ambulance behind the BMW; but the impact and the shock-waves from it were enough for Heather to lose control. She bashed past several cars and sideswiped a van before crashing through a fence and rolling over several times, landing in a field. " _Targets eliminated. Returning to DC_ " the computer declared as the super-weapon turned to the right and vanished into the skies. To Project Connaughton and for all intent and purposes, all three people in the BMW were dead.

09:32:10AM

–

09:35:53AM

 **Outskirts of Washington**

Inside the main limo within the motorcade en-route to DC, Agent Pierce was a worried man. His attempts to contact the White House since around 9am had all been unsuccessful – no matter what he did or who he tried to speak to, all of his attempts had ended in failure. The thought of stopping the motorcade and waiting somewhere near DC in the event that something bad had happened had been thrown around but considering they were so close to reaching their destination, the suggestion was ultimately dismissed.

Now Pierce was going to make one last attempt to make contact with someone in the city centre – if he was unsuccessful, he was definitely going to have the motorcade stop on the outskirts of the city centre and wait for a definite response. If they carried on, they could end up potentially getting killed. "This is Aaron Pierce calling ANYONE in the city centre! Come on, over!" he spoke into the radio. Once again, he was met with static. No matter who he was trying to reach, it was always the same outcome. He sighed, realizing his last-ditch attempt was not going to work and replaced the radio. "Get in touch with the front car; tell them we're gonna pull over in a few minutes" he ordered the agent sitting next to him, who nodded. But just as he grabbed the radio and prepared to adjust the frequency, a phone started to ring. Both agents looked at each other in confusion, unsure mainly as to whose phone was ringing – but as the agent holding the radio looked around, he quickly spotted that it was Pierce's phone ringing. "Sir, it's your phone.." he said, a bit surprised. Raising an eyebrow, the veteran Secret Service agent pulled the phone out from his holster and flipped it open, putting it to his ear. "This is Aaron Pierce" he said, his voice suspicious.

" _OH! Thank god – Agent Pierce, you have no idea how good it is to hear your voice!_ " a male voice replied, clearly relieved. Pierce was a little surprised but didn't let it show. "May I ask who this is? I'm currently a little busy" he replied coolly. " _Sorry, sir – my name is Jason Hendricks, I'm part of the Presidential detail – I'm calling from DC!_ " the voice replied, identifying himself as someone called Hendricks. The mere mention of DC got the veteran agent's attention. "Alright, Mr Hendricks. You have my attention, _what's going on exactly?_ " he asked, who couldn't have known that he wasn't actually talking to Jason Hendricks. The name was a cover and he was unknowingly talking with Henderson. "Oh, sir, you have no idea – there's been some kind of massive electrical failure in the whole of the city centre! Been trying to reach the FBI, the Capital Building, the White House, no response from any of _them at all_!" he lied, knowing Pierce could have no way proving this wasn't the case. "Electrical failure? It must have something big if it managed to wipe out the electricity in the whole city centre!" Pierce replied in surprise.

" _Well, an electrical failure is what the White House believes –_ but considering the scale of it all, I think it would be premature to rule out an E.M.P if I'm honest, sir" Henderson partly lied. " _I see – speaking of the White House, is everyone ok there?_ " the veteran agent replied, quickly realizing he'd not asked about the President. "Yes, sir. Everyone's just fine, just waiting on the remaining members of the Cabinet to get back here – Secretary of State _should be arriving before mid-day at the latest_ " came the response. "I see.. well, I appreciate you letting me know, Hendricks. Saved me and probably my passengers a great deal of bother" Pierce stated. " _Passengers? Wasn't aware you were bringing anyone here.._ " Henderson lied, hoping to get an explanation from the veteran agent. "I am, yes – I presume you've heard of Jack Bauer's daughter?" Pierce asked, believing he could trust the Secret Service agent. " _Vaguely.. I know her name's Kim but that's it_ " came another lie.

" _Well I'm bringing her family to the capital on the President's orders_ " the veteran agent explained. Henderson gave an evil smile. "I see – well to be honest, sir, I'm not quite sure the city is that safe at the moment for anyone to arrive here. _In fact, I think you should actually wait on the outskirts until we're certain it's safe_ " he lied yet again. Pierce rose an eyebrow in surprise. "Ok, but I'm confused, son – if the city's okay as you said apart from the blackout, why ask you to wait _on the outskirts?_ " he pointed out. "I know it's strange but trust me sir, I have a feeling something's not right and I don't want your life being put at risk. In fact, I have a proposal for you. _I am on my way to Colmar Manor Community Park, how about we meet up there?_ " Henderson suggested. He was working on the hunch Pierce hadn't heard about the attack on Guardstrom HQ, which was actually located within the middle of Colmar Manor Park on the outskirts of the city. The remains of the HQ sounded like the best place to take hostages and lure Jack out, all in the place where the chains began to unravel. It was perfect.

".. _very well, son. I'll meet you there. How will I know where to find you?_ " Pierce relented. "You'll see me, sir. You won't be able to miss me. See you soon!" Henderson said before hanging up. Everything was going to plan. He just had to hope Jack Bauer would take the bait – and suddenly, he had a delicious idea. One that would completely test Bauer's state of mind and one that would play a big role in the outcome of his vengeance. He grabbed the controls for Project Connaughton and started to program new co-ordinates.

–

 **Baltimore-Washington Parkway**

The BMW was still positioned on its side and looking rather wrecked – both windscreens had fully smashed and the back passenger door next to Gumushan had completely broken off. It was looking a sorry state.

At first, it appeared as though neither one of Heather, Gumushan or Benediktov had survived as there was no sign of any activity around the vehicle – and that was the same opinion shared by paramedics as they instead tended to those involved in the BMW's many collisions. But then, from out of nowhere, a hand emerged from the front passenger side where the door had been and hauled itself up. Slowly but surely, Benediktov hauled his upper body out of the BMW and pulled himself out of the vehicle overall, the briefcase still in his hands. He landed on the grass on his hands and knees, gritting his teeth to avoid screaming out in pain. He got to his feet and looked behind him to check back inside the BMW. He could see no signs of life from either Heather or Gumushan.

The General shook his head. "Such a tragic waste.." he muttered as he looked out at where the car had originally crashed. He sighed and sat down next to the turned-over car. No-one had yet spotted him, he thought to himself, as he looked out at the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. The last few seconds before the crash had been a complete blur – he knew that Sokolov was dead and that her death had been at the hands of that super-weapon. He knew that Torres was dead and he'd managed to regain the missile launchers. If he could find a way of getting to Bauer, the missiles could end up playing a big role in catching Henders...

At that, General Andre Benediktov froze as realization dawned on him. Henderson. Henderson was controlling Project Connaughton. HE had been the target – Gumushan, Heather and Sokolov had been nothing more but unwilling victims. A sense of pure anger and rage started to boil over within the Russian. Henderson was trying his level best to off him, attack and murder the government, blame him for it and just escape into the wilderness as the world plunged into war. Again, the General had no desire for war; he just wanted the United States of America to realize that Europe were fighting back against them. Henderson had to be stopped and again still considering how he himself had worsened the situation because he'd believed the lies, Benediktov firmly believed that he and he alone was the one who had to stop him, no matter what the potential ramifications were.

He slowly got to his feet, fighting the pain as he did and slowly walked towards where the emergency services were positioned. Trying to convince someone to help him wasn't going to be easy but he couldn't bring attention to himself so stealing a vehicle was simply out of the question. As he got closer, someone spotted him and his eyebrows rose upon seeing the old man before him. "Jesus!" he yelled and ran towards the General, scraping to a halt on the dirt. "You alright, sir? Where did you come from?" he asked. Benediktov looked him over – he looked a rich fellow, with a smart suit. "The.. B..M..W. Over there.." he replied, trying to make himself sound as shaken up by the crash and pointing into the field. The rich man quickly made out the BMW on its side and realized nobody had seen it. "There's another vehicle in the field!" he yelled at one of the paramedics, who came over to try and spot it. His eyebrows rose as soon as he saw it. "You lot, with me!" he yelled at several other paramedics before racing towards the car. As soon as the paramedics had raced past the rich man, he turned to face the General. "Your friends in the car, they'll be..." he started before stopping short. The injured man before him was pointing a gun at his stomach and at an angle where no-one else could see.

"I regret having to do this, son. But I need to get to DC immediately and I'm gonna need you for that" Benediktov said calmly. "Alright, alright.. you want my car, take it.." the man replied, reaching into his pocket to get the keys to his car, but Benediktov grabbed his hand. "No you misunderstand, son. I need your car and I need YOU to drive me" he explained. The man rose an eyebrow but nodded, more under the threat of the gun than anything else. The two made their way towards the rich man's car, Benediktov gritting his teeth to avoid screaming out in pain – and finally they got to the car, the man unlocking it and heading for the drivers door. The General climbed into the car and fastened himself in before putting the gun back in his holster. "An act of good will, shall we say?" he proposed. The man's nerves eased down at this. "What's your name, son?" he added, wanting to get the nerves down as much as possible. "Ed Plowright, yourself?" the man, calling himself Ed, replied. "Me? At the minute, I wouldn't say that's important. You'll find it out soon enough" the General insisted.

Ed's curiosity as to who this man was peaked but said nothing as he started the car up. "Where do you want me to drive you?" he asked instead. "I'll keep it pretty easy – drive me to the DC city centre" Benediktov said, looking out ahead. Ed made a face. "I've been hearing reports access to the city centre has been cut off, apparently some kind of city-wide blackout" he pointed out. The Russian simply looked at him. "I know.. that's why I want to go there. What caused that blackout, I can assure you it was not an accident. There is a threat to the country I am determined to eliminate" he explained. Ed rose an eyebrow in interest, but said nothing as he moved off to rejoin the Parkway. "Ok, we're about halfway to DC – provided we don't hit traffic, we could get to the city centre either just before or after 10" he stated, to which Benediktov nodded. But he wasn't paying attention. Inside, his anger levels had reached boiling point. When he got his hands on Henderson, he was going to wish he had never crossed paths with General Andre Benediktov of the Russian military.

No-one spotted the car driving off as they were focused on the BMW – and combining all their strength, 3 of the paramedics were able to lift the vehicle back onto its wheels. "Hello? Sweetheart, can you hear me?" one said as he spotted Heather still fastened into the driving seat. Apart from a few cuts and bruises, she seemed to be alright but just unconscious. "Sweetheart? Hello?" the paramedic repeated and every so slowly but surely, the seventeen year-old began to move her eyelids.

–

 **Shepherd Field**

Standing on the tarmac at Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base was Air Force Two – and amid heavy security detail, the Secretary of State was finally escorted off the plane. As he made his way down the steps, one of the agents picked up her radio and spoke into this. "Alright, Jack. We're on the ground and the Secretary's on American soil" she confirmed before hearing a sigh of relief. " _Brilliant, thank you! Get him_ to a secure location on site and keep him there until you hear otherwise" Jack responded. " _Will do, out_ " the agent agreed as the former agent hung up the radio and turned around, rubbing his temples. "Well, at least something's going right today – something happening to Gerrard at this point is the last thing we need" he quietly told Belcheck. The Serb nodded.

"How secure is Shepherd Field?" he asked, more out of interest than anything else. "Very secure – if in the event of an emergency, nothing gets in or out. The Secretary will be safe there until we deal with Henderson.." the former agent insisted. At the front of the helicopter, the pilots were looking out over the skies when the male pilot spotted something. "Pass me the binoculars.." he asked his co-pilot, frowning. As soon as he got them, he peered through them. In the distance, he could definitely see something racing towards them – the guy nearly double-taked but he could have sworn what he had seen was a massive fighter jet with a wingspan almost the same length of wings on passenger planes. "Jack.. come and see this.." he turned his head to address the former agent, now sounding concerned. A little unsettled by the pilot's tone of voice, Jack came back to the front of the helicopter and picked up the binoculars, peering out at the skies before him. His face also went pale as he saw what the pilot saw – and then witnessed what appeared to be Project Connaughton racing right past them in the direction they were coming from.

"That couldn't have been.." Belcheck said as he came up behind Jack, having also seen the super-weapon race by. "It was, but frankly my concern is where it's flying to" the former agent insisted, now concerned over where it was headed more than anything. The female pilot peered out of the window trying to spot the direction that it was headed in. "It looks like it's going North-West, towards Pittsburgh.." she said, locating the super-weapon flying in the direction she said it was going in. The male pilot frowned. "Pittsburgh? I'm clearly missing something but what's there that this Henderson wants to destroy?" he asked. It was then that it hit Jack. "It's not going to Pittsburgh – it's going north-west because Shepherd Field is north-west of where we are! Henderson's going after Gerrard!" he realized with horror. As the pilots realized the impact of the former agent's words, Jack dived for the radio. "This is Jack Bauer calling Shepherd Field Tower, repeat..."

" _...this is Jack Bauer calling Shepherd Field Tower, over!_ " he yelled into the radio, with the senior controller in charge immediately hearing him. "This is Shepherd Field Tower, Mr Bauer – you're on with Commander Masters. What's the emergency?" he asked, surprised at being contacted out of the blue. " _Sir, you need to get the Secretary of State undercover immediately!_ I have reason to believe Shepherd Field is about to fall under attack!" Jack yelled desperately. Masters peered down at his radar system. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Radar seems fine to me, Jack. Are you certain it's Shepherd...?" he tried to respond. " _YES I'M DAMN SURE! I AM TELLING YOU,_ Shepherd Field is about to be attacked!" the former agent snapped back, only to be then interrupted himself. " _Commander Masters_! I'm picking something up that I've never seen before" a radar operator explained, looking up at his system. Masters looked it over and realized that Jack was right. There was something likely coming to Shepherd Field. "Alright, Jack! I'm putting the base on lockdown!" he agreed as he returned to his control system and unlocked a clear glass panel, pressing down on a big red button.

Outside, Gerrard was in the middle of being escorted onto a military vehicle when Captain Dana looked up. For a split second, she heard she could hear a rumbling sound she hadn't heard before – and it was at that point she saw it coming downwards. A large jet with a massive wingspan. Project Connaughton was rocketing towards the Air Base. And it was at that point the alarm. " _ **This is an emergency! Will all personnel please report to their immediate superior and prepare for battle-stations! I repeat, this is an emergency!**_ " a loud droning voice repeated over and over, leading to various soldiers and cadets scrambling into position. To the Secret Service agents, they had no idea what to do other than make sure that the Secretary of State was safe. "Get down, sir!" one yelled as he forced Gerrard onto his knees and out of immediate sight whilst agents circled around him with guns raised. They had to take every precaution.

And it was at that exact time that the first missile hit. In the short space of time between the start of the droning voice repeating its warning and then the soldiers and cadets scrambling about, Project Connaughton had had plenty of time to find its first target and fire. The missile slammed into an aircraft hangar, which exploded into a fireball with seconds. Soldiers went crashing down to the ground as agents averted their eyesight away from the burning flames. In the skies to the south-east, Jack had clearly heard the explosion over the radio as he was racing into action. "Commander? Commander?" he asked desperately. " _We're ok, Jack – too early to tell what happened, but we've definitely lost a hangar from what we've seen_ " Masters replied. To Jack, that was all he really needed to hear. "Right, stand by!" he insisted as he turned off the receiver, so that the commander wouldn't be able to hear the following conversation. "I say we need to get to Shepherd Field – the government has been attacked enough today, we can't sit by and watch that thing kill the Secretary!" the former agent insisted, only to be immediately stopped by Belcheck. "No. Jack, we have to get to DC as soon as possible, we can't just detour like that" he insisted. Jack looked at him like he was insane. "Did you not just hear, Belcheck? The Secretary of State is in danger, we CAN NOT JUST LEAVE HIM!" he snapped back.

"I get he's in danger – but our main priority is to get to DC and stop Henderson now! What if he's doing this just to distract you and give himself a chance to escape?" the Serb mobster protested. It took several seconds until finally, Jack relented. "Alright.. I guess you have a point" he admitted. He wanted to try and help Gerrard but he knew that this could well have been an attempt to get him to go to Shepherd Field whilst Henderson escaped with the controls to the super-weapon. The sooner he and Belcheck got to DC, the better chance they had of stopping him. "Turn the radio back on, we'll let them know.." he ordered the male pilot who did as asked. "Commander Masters, are you there?" the pilot asked, only to be met with static. "Commander?" he tried again, only to still be met with static.

What no-one on the helicopter could have realized was that during the time they were debating whether they should go help or just head to DC as originally planned, Project Connaughton had launched two further missiles – one at a tanker parked just outside an aircraft hangar with the resulting explosion causing a chain reaction and then the second one fired at the control tower itself, instantly destroying it. No-one could have survived something like that. But to the agents surrounding Gerrard, that was the last thing on their minds; they had to get the Secretary of State out of sight. Out of the blue, as the super-weapon raced back towards the clouds for another attack, one agent saw an opening. "Come on, this way!" she yelled, inexplicably running towards the collapsing control tower. The collective group of agents could only watch in bewilderment, but followed her lead, keeping the Secretary of State under close cover. As the group got closer, they started to see why the first agent had proposed going to the collapsing control tower – for underneath the tower, there was actually an underground level that acted as a bunker. "Hurry up, it's coming back!" the agent yelled as loud as she could, several agents looking up to see that the super-weapon was indeed coming in for a final sweep.

At that, the group of agents began to pick up the pace and ran towards the remains of the tower, just as the super-weapon began to finalize it's fourth and final missile – and that was when one of the agents realized the group had forgotten something. "Sir! Your left shoe, give it to me!" she yelled. Gerrard looked at her with confusion as to why she wanted his shoe, but took it off of his left foot and gave it to her. She promptly threw it as far as she could before grabbing the Secretary of State and rushing towards the tower with him. It proved to be an act that saved everyone's life as the super-weapon found its target and fired, a missile rocketing towards the ground. It slammed into the Boeing C-32 that was Air Force just minutes previously and exploded, fire ripping through the plane like it was nothing at all. The super-weapon flew back into the sky, unaware that the Secretary of State was still alive – as the group of agents made their way underground, Gerrard stopped the agent who had thrown his shoe. All it took was one look from him for her to explain. "The tracking device hidden in your shoe, Mr Secretary – I had a feeling that was what the weapon was latching onto and I was right" she explained as she pointed at the burning remains of the Boeing C-32. She had managed to throw the shoe into its vicinity.

Gerrard smirked. "When this is done, remind me to promote you, young lady. Now let's see if we can contact the White House now.." he half-joked before adapting a more serious attitude and heading down into the bunker. Project Connaughton raced south-east through the skies and back to DC, fully under the belief that its job was done.

–

 **White House Bunker**

"A few seconds more, Mr President – then we should have full power!" Chloe insisted in an optimistic manner before she flicked a switch on a wall panel and pushed a lever upwards. Within seconds, the dim lights that filled the backup power room went fully off before shining back on with more energy than before. Throughout the rest of the bunker, the same things happened with the same result – lights flickered to life, computers switched on and phone signals returned. Novick looked around the room he was in and smiled. "You've done it, Chloe! Well done!" he beamed from ear to ear.

"Mr President!" an agent called from behind and Novick turned to see Agent Tracy standing before him. Despite a few cuts and bruises, he was none the worse for wear. "Power to the lock-down mechanism has returned! Permission to deactivate?" he enquired. The Acting President nodded. "Do it! Let's get out of here!" he agreed, to which Tracy nodded and spun on his heel to complete the task. Novick quickly turned back around to speak with the radio operator. "See if you can contact Jack Bauer, he'll have been worried sick about us!" he ordered. The operator nodded and set to work. The Acting President finally felt a sense of relaxation for the first time since being sworn in as an interim President. Power had been restored to both the bunker and the White House itself, which meant they could get a better idea of what the hell happened for both places to lose all electrical power.

As soon as he was on the surface, however, he knew that he had to visit the medical bay and see the body of President Heller. He had known the former Secretary of Defence for many years and he knew that even though the man had been suffering from dementia, he still had plenty of life still left in him. But in a way, he felt that maybe his passing was for the best – after all, he was suffering from a disease that would leave him as a shadow of his brilliant self and as someone who would have forgotten that he had had a daughter, let alone someone who had died. At least James and Audrey Heller could be together at last. "Sir! I have the Secretary of State on the line for you!" an agent said suddenly, Novick looking up to see said agent with a phone in hand. The Acting President's eyes very nearly shot up in surprise but he kept his cool and held his hand out for the phone.

"How are you, Michael? Have you landed yet?" he asked as soon as the phone was to his ear. " _I'm fine, thank you sir – and you could_ say I have!" Gerrard replied, his voice nearly echoing around the bunker. " _I don't understand, what do you mean by that..?_ " Novick said uneasily, confused by what the Secretary had said. "Long story, sir – I am on American soil but I was attacked almost instantly by.. by this _huge aerial weapon_!" the Secretary of State replied, the mere mention of the words "huge aerial weapon" sending alarm bells through Novick's mind. That could only mean one thing – the super-weapon! "Are you alright?!" he immediately replied, almost yelling. " _Yes! Don't worry, I'm fine. Air Force Two has_ been destroyed but I got to safety just in time. Shepherd Field personnel are doing an aerial sweep, making sure it's okay for us to leave the underground bunker" Gerrard insisted. He could hear the Acting President sigh in relief.

" _Alright, Michael._ Give us informed – I'll send someone to fly you to DC as soon as possible. I gotta go" Novick replied before hanging up. Whilst the Secretary of State was talking with him, Novick had been signalled by the radio operator. He had Jack on the line. Handing the phone back to the agent, the Acting President turned his attention to the radio and grabbed the receiver. "Jack?" he spoke into it. This time, it was his turn for him to hear a sigh. " _It's good to hear your voice, sir – how's everything holding up?_ " he heard Jack ask. "Pretty good, Jack. White House power has been restored and _Chloe's just restored the power to the bunker!_ " he explained, much to the relief of the former agent. "Brilliant – well I'm afraid we've got bad news with regards to Benediktov. Basically, someone Cannavale was working with stole the missile launchers, I had to send Sokolov and the General to retrieve them. _No word from them so far!_ " he admitted. Novick was stunned. "How the hell did that happen?" he demanded to know. " _I honestly don't know, Mike –_ but I'm on my way back to DC. The launchers are not the main concern in my opinion, we have to stop Henderson first and foremost!" the former agent insisted. Novick mulled it over; Jack did have a point in that regard.

"Fair enough.. also, I thought you should know I've just spoken with the Secretary of State. He's back on our soil and _he's just fine_!" he replied. This put a relieved smile on Jack's face. "That's good to hear, Mike. As soon as I'm in your airspace, I'll let you know. In the meantime, start pooling resources. We need to find Henderson as soon as we can – _he's now our top priority!_ " he replied, insistent by the end. "Roger that; see you in a bit, Jack - out" the Acting President confirmed before hanging up the radio. He knew that he probably should have told Jack about Heller but he figured perhaps he should only find out when Henderson's caught or better, dead. Distractions could not be afforded at this stage

–

09:41:52AM

In the skies above the near-outskirts of DC, Jack wiped his forehead in relief. Everyone in the bunker was okay and Gerrard had avoided being the latest victim of Project Connaughton. Two less things to worry about, now he could just focus on finding Henderson.

He turned towards Belcheck and sighed. "I owe you an apology, you were right to insist we carry on to the city centre. From what Novick said, we probably wouldn't have been able to do hardly much at all" he admitted. The Serb mobster just shook his head. "Don't worry – main thing is we have only one thing to focus on now" he replied to which the former agent nodded. "Yeah... I hope Sokolov's ok though, we need those launchers just in case" he added. As if right on cue, Jack's phone started to ring and after taking a second to register his surprise, he flipped the phone open. "This is Bauer" he said. " _Jack! Oh thank heavens, I was hoping you would answer!_ " a voice replied. The former agent quickly realized just who he was talking to. "Gumushan? What's happened? Where's General Benediktov?!" he spluttered, the mention of the Turkish-Cyprian attracting Belcheck's attention.

" _That's just it – it's a long story._ Put simply, Heather and I are ok. The guy who kidnapped us is dead, but so is that Russian woman and a lot of policemen!" Gumushan explained, standing on the step for an ambulance and watching as Heather was walked gently onto the road by a paramedic. " _Sokolov's dead? What about the General, where is he? Do you have the launchers?_ " Jack demanded. "She is.. Benediktov's alive but that's why I'm ringing. We got shot off the road, Jack. That aerial weapon that attacked the Port.." the Turkish-Cyprian revealed. Before Jack had a chance to register what he'd heard, Gumushan continued. ". _.put simply, Benediktov has the launchers._ I have no idea where he is, he's just vanished..".

Seeing the facial reactions on Jack's face, Belcheck quickly realized something wasn't right and he grabbed the phone. "Mr Gumushan, it's Belcheck. Do you have ANY idea where the General is?!" he almost snapped. " _I'm afraid not –_ but based on what you said at the Port, I think he's gone to DC! After this Henderson character.." Gumushan theorized. That was all the Serb needed to hear. " _Right, ok.. you and the girl, are either of you in a fit state to go anywhere?_ " he asked. Gumushan looked over at Heather. "I'm ok, but I'm not so sure on Heather. I think the last hour or so has taken something out of here" he admitted. Belcheck sighed, a grim look on his face. "Alright, well.. you two need to get to DC now. We're really close to potentially finding Henderson, we'll need all the hands _we can get – and the girl could well be key.._ " he said. "Well.. I can speak with the paramedics but I'm not really sure whether they'll let Heather go. Bare with me" Gumushan replied as he walked over to the teenage Walkman. "How is she?" he asked the paramedic.

"She's in shock but otherwise she's physically fine – she's incredibly lucky to be still standing though. I'm gonna suggest she possibly stay overnight in hospital.. sweetheart, I'm gonna need some contact details so I can inform a parent or guardian" the paramedic replied, first talking to the Turkish-Cyprian and then Heather. Gumushan had known the girl less than an hour but he knew her mother was dead, killed at the Port during Torres' escape. They didn't really have time for this. "I'm her guardian, I'll give you the details at the hospital but we need to go immediately!" he suddenly said. The paramedic was surprised but didn't voice his suspicions. "Alright, you both climb aboard. Al, we're heading back!" he replied, again first speaking to the pair and then yelling at his partner. Gumushan helped Heather into the back as the first paramedic closed the right-hand door.

"I'll call you back, Belcheck – but we're on our way!" the Turkish-Cyprian said before hanging up the phone. "Do you feel like you're ok to carry on? The Serb said all hands are needed if we're gonna stop this Henderson guy.." he added, getting down to Heather's level and indicating that he would accept no for an answer if she didn't feel up to it. She finally nodded. "I wanna help. Whatever it is my mom got involved with, I wanna end it" she replied. At that, the second paramedic – the one that had been called Al by his colleague – climbed aboard the ambulance and closed both doors. "Alrighty, we'll be at the hospital as soon as possible. We were gonna go to one in DC but they've had a power failure so we're headed to one on the outskirts" he explained, Gumushan nodding as he sat down on a vacant seat.

"Sweetheart, I'll need you to take off some of your clothes for me – just so I can check we're not missing anything" he quickly added and Heather did as she was told, taking off her jacket. And from there, a folded piece of paper fell onto the floor. Gumushan spotted it and picked it up. "What's this?" he asked Heather who quickly realized. "It's from the emergency pack, down in.." she said, keeping it simple as so not to attract suspicion from either paramedic. Unfolding it, the Turkish-Cyprian spotted the Guardstrom letterhead at the top of the piece of paper and scanned the sheet, uncovering what appeared to be analytical details. He frowned. "Why would this be in the emergency pack?" he asked, showing it to Heather as Al started to look her over. "I don't know – but what's that on the back?" she replied before pointing something out. Turning the sheet over, Gumushan scanned the handwriting.

" _Dear Heather,_

 _if you're reading this.. then such an event has taken place that you've had to open the survival kit. I suppose it's time you found it that I've been experimenting with Artificial Intelligence computing. I've developed something that if used right can be a powerful weapon – but if in the hands of someone else, it has the potential to be dangerous. Should the latter take place, on this piece of paper you can find the means to hack into the A.I and take back control of the weapon. I'm telling you because I have faith in your abilities. Beneath your exterior, beneath the personality disorder, you are incredibly skilled. There is honestly no-one else I would trust with something like this. Please.. do me proud and stop the danger!_

 _Mom_ "

It suddenly made sense. In the event that Walkman's plans went wrong to the point where she couldn't do anything, she had a back-up. Her own daughter. As for what the analytical details were, they were a means of HACKING into the aerial weapon. If they could somehow succeed on this, they might be able to find Henderson and end it all. He felt a slight jolt as the ambulance turned around and started to head towards the slip road back onto the Parkway. "You don't happen to have a form of computer on here, do you?" he asked Al out of the blue. "Certainly do, and with our own Wi-Fi. I'll get it out if that's what.." the paramedic replied before tailing off, expecting an answer. "Please" Gumushan insisted, to which the paramedic got up and headed towards the gap between the front seats and the back of the ambulance itself. He opened a panel that locked the gap up and pulled out the iPad. It had a very secure case around it, with even a Bluetooth keyboard at the ready. "Connection's very secure so don't worry about it cutting out.." he started only to be interrupted by Gumushan grabbing a paper towel and getting his arm around the paramedic's neck, covering his mouth with the towel. Heather could only watch in horror as the two struggled before the Turkish-Cyprian won out. "Sorry, mate. I need silence to do this" he said quietly as he laid the unconscious paramedic's body on the floor of the vehicle before turning his attention back to Heather.

"Here, read this.." he said, handing her back the paper so that she was looking at her mother's handwriting. "Did you know any of this?" he asked, just wanting to clarify. It took a while but Heather sighed. "In a way, I did know. I do have bipolar but.. beneath all that, I am incredibly smart. One of the smartest in the country according to Mom" she admitted. Gumushan nodded. "Do you think you can do this?" he asked, referring to the analytical details. "Yeah.. I can try, I guess. I just hope Henderson hasn't changed anything" the teenager replied as she tried to build up confidence. "Ok.. I can try to help but in the meantime, I need to contact Jack again. Anything that can help us with Henderson, he needs to know!" the Turkish-Cyprian explained. Heather nodded. "Do it, I'll get started" she said as she picked up the iPad. Gumushan immediately flipped his phone back open. Jack was going to be in for a huge surprise when he found out about this.

–

 **Baltimore-Washington Parkway**

About 15 to 20 minutes ahead of the ambulance, the sports-car raced down the Parkway and towards DC at as fast a speed as the speed limit would allow. Inside and aside from shadowing the clear pain he was in, Benedikrov was alternating between looking over one of his launchers and looking out of the windscreen – presumably to try and spot the super-weapon before it could ambush him again.

Ed was watching him clearly and part of him was starting to wonder whether the Russian before him was in a fit mental state. Large aerial weapons? Launchers that could fire missiles? And who the hell was this Henderson character? Ok, he obviously came from the BMW lying on its side so he couldn't have anything wrong with him mentally; since he clearly was in the crash though, the chances he's concussed are possible. "I know what you're thinking, my good man. But I can assure you, I am mentally sound and I am not clutching at straws. I am genuinely trying to save your country from total destruction" the General said suddenly, taking Ed a little by surprise. "But why? I mean, I'm not questioning you or anything – but why is a Russian trying to save America and what are you trying to save America from?" the driver replied, trying to get an explanation out of the man.

Benediktov sighed; he had no choice, he guessed. "I'm trying to save America from a situation that I managed to elevate. A few hours ago, I attacked an installation in the city centre that I believed had been involved in a terrorist act on my country – turns out the terrorist act was nothing more than a fabrication, an attempt by an enemy party to get their hands on a weapon that the attacked installation had created. Had it not been for my attack, this party would not have gotten their hands on this weapon at all and certain things could have well been avoided. For that, I need to atone and make things right" he explained. The penny finally dropped for Ed, as it quickly became apparent just who exactly his passenger was. "You.. you're...?" he spluttered. "I am General Benediktov, you are quite correct in your assumptions" the General replied calmly. The driver could not believe it. Granted, he had been forced to drive the car at gun-point more than anything else – but still, he was practically assisting a brutal terrorist!

"Trust me son, I am not trying to attack the country any-more. Certain events have taken place in the last few hours that have changed my perception. I am now trying to STOP the enemy parties from causing anymore damage; I allowed these parties a way into the chain of destruction and I'm going to do what it takes to send them out! And these are the key.." the Russian insisted before taking the briefcase and opening it up to take out one of the launchers. Ed visibly calmed down but his eyes still showed signs of nerves. "Alrighty.. time for Mr Henderson to get a taste of revenge" he added as he began typing in co-ordinates on the launcher. He had no idea where the guy was so this first missile shot was about spooking the man and getting an idea of his location. He typed in the last number for the co-ordinates and after looking it over, he pushed down on the red button.

Considering it had seen a large battle and then an aerial assault within the last five hours, the surface of the North Atlantic was relatively and generally calm with bits of wreckage floating about and evidence of American and Russian ships sinking below the surface – suddenly, that calm was interrupted as a missile shot up from the water and into the skies. Benediktov had no real idea on how long it would take for the missile to find its target but estimated it would take as little as 5 minutes and as much as 10. Either way, Henderson was in for a shock.

–

 **Outskirts of Washington**

Speaking of the man, Henderson had finally arrived at Colmar Manor Community Park and was in the middle of getting out of the car. He was quite a ways into the park, not far from the road – but crucially in his mind, there was still a little distance between where he was currently and the road that Pierce would be coming down. From where he was standing, he could see the remains of Guardstrom HQ on the edge of the park furthest from the city centre. The perfect place for a final showdown with Jack Bauer. There was still the potential problem of the military presence there as he was sure it would be under close guard; after all, someone had pretty much attacked it in the middle of one of the worst crisis's America had seen it and no-one was going to leave it to chance.

Grabbing his binoculars, Henderson peered out through the gaps in the scenery at the road approaching the city. Finally, he saw what appeared to be a series of cars coming towards him in the distance, like a motorcade. They were still about five minutes out, but Henderson had a feeling that was Pierce approaching the city. "Like a rat slowly making its way into the trap.." he said as he lowered the binoculars. They had no idea of knowing what was about to hit them – and Jack, when he arrived, would have no idea of what was to come.

09:47:28AM

–

09:51:07AM

 **White House**

The elevator doors from the shaft leading down to the bunker opened – and from it, Novick, Chloe and Kim emerged. They were finally back on the surface of the city. "Sorry for the wait, Jack. We're finally back in the White House. Now tell me again, what is it Gumushan has found out about Walkman's daughter?" the Acting President asked as he spoke into the phone. The former agent had explained that he had been in contact with someone he had met at the Port of Baltimore while pursuing Cannavale and had found out from him that Heather Walkman had a way of bringing down Project Connaughton. He was getting the full details from him now as he had been left somewhat confused at first by what had been meant.

As for Kim, she quickly moved in the opposite direction with Chloe; she needed to contact Agent Pierce and check her family was ok. "How you holding up?" Chloe asked as Kim put the phone to her ear, generally asking more out of concern considering that the younger girl had spent several hours underground and just under one of those hours trapped in the bunker. "I'll be alright, I just hope Stephen gets here soon" she insisted as she heard the dial tone ring over and over. Finally, it picked up. "Agent Pierce?" Kim started only to be met with silence. Someone had clearly picked up, but was now no longer replying. Suddenly, there was a loud gunshot on the other end of the call which nearly made her jump in first shock and then confusion. "Hello?" she repeated desperately, now getting worried. All of a sudden, there was another gunshot and what appeared to be the sound of breaking glass – and another gunshot and another. Chloe quickly noticed what was wrong as she could see Kim's face going pale and she pulled Kim's hand so that she could also hear what was happening on the other end of the phone, just in time to hear another gunshot and what appeared to be shouting.

Finally, there came another gunshot and then more shouting, which became a lot clearer. " _I SAID OUT OF THE CAR OR SOMEONE GETS A BULLET THROUGH THE HEAD!_ " somebody yelled and it all became clear; they were certainly listening to Agent Pierce's phone and someone had clearly ambushed the motorcade he was in, which meant someone had ambushed Kim's family in turn. At that, the phone suddenly hung up and the former analyst could only watch as a shaken Kim fell to her knees, releasing her grip on the phone and letting it fall onto the floor. Realizing the extent of what had happened, Chloe wasted no time, grabbing the phone and racing in the direction of Novick. "SIR! I need to talk to Jack, RIGHT NOW!" she yelled, getting his attention and then grabbing the phone as he turned around to see who was talking to him. "Jack, it's Chloe! We may have a problem – someone may have attacked Aaron Pierce!" she scrambled out before anyone could say a word. The Acting President was about to tear into Chloe for interrupting him and then taking the phone off of him but when had mentioned a possible attack on Agent Pierce, he stopped.

" _WAIT! What? What do you mean, Chloe?_ " Jack almost yelled back in shock. "Kim just tried to contact Pierce, find out where her family were – _but no-one picked up. I heard gunshots and someone threatening to shoot somebody in the head!_ " the former analyst insisted. "You're sure it's..?" Jack started only for Chloe to butt in almost instantly. " _YES I'M SURE IT'S PIERCE'S PHONE! Kim contacted him personally and directly! I'm telling you, something's happened!_ " she shouted, her voice insistent. "Alright, alright! Ok, I'm just a few minutes out from the city centre. Belcheck and I are heading straight towards you. Let me talk to the President again" Jack replied, trying to keep a calm head. He had a big feeling Henderson was involved with what Chloe had just told him; no proof obviously, but just a gut feeling.

" _I'm here, Jack – and if I'm honest_ , I have an idea as to who may have done this" Novick replied. " _Henderson, I know. But until we find him, we won't know for certain_ " the former agent pointed out, sighing in frustration at the turn of events. "I appreciate that – _just get here when you can. I'll get the Secret Service on this, we'll find them!_ " the Acting President replied, explaining his intentions. Jack slowly hung up the phone and covered his face with his hand. Belcheck had vaguely heard the conversation between the helicopter and the White House and quickly moved towards the front of the helicopter. "Get us as close to the White House as you can and land there!" he ordered the pilots, who didn't need telling twice. The male pilot moved the control stick to the right as the helicopter turned. A lot of things were racing through Jack's mind; it was becoming mightily clear that Henderson was targeting him. In fact, what if it transpired that Henderson had done what he had done to lure Jack into the open? He'd already gone after Kim and now he was going after her family.

His family. Well.. if Henderson wants him out in the open, he'll get what he wants. Nobody goes after his family and lives to tell the tale. But within all of this, the former agent had not forgotten about Benediktov. Where was he and who or what is he going after?

–

 **Outskirts of Washington**

In actuality, Novick and Jack's concerns about who may well have ambushed the motorcade turned out to be justified – for it indeed had been Henderson that had been behind the ambush. He slowly made his way through the bodies of dead Secret Service agents and towards his four hostages; Pierce and Stephen who were both on their knees and had their hands on their heads, as well as Teri who was making sure her younger brother Patrick couldn't see the danger before him. Henderson looked down at Pierce. "Well, well.. the famed Aaron Pierce. I was hoping you'd put up a better fight considering what I've heard of you" he almost taunted, but nearly came to regret it as the veteran agent simply gave him a death glare, his eyes asking "you really want to go there?" and keeping deathly silent.

"Who the devil are you anyway? What the hell do you want with us?" Stephen responded, partly looking to the side and making sure his young children were both ok. "My dear fellow, names are not important at this time. You'll find out soon enough though, just as soon as I get my hands on your father-in-law" Henderson replied. It took a moment for Stephen to realize what he meant but it quickly became apparent – Jack was his father-in-law. What on earth could Jack have to do with this? "Now then.. I need you all back in the limo. We're taking a detour" he added, pointing his gun at the car. Pierce continued to glare at him but got to his feet and towards the driver-side of the limo once again whilst Stephen quietly got his children back into the vehicle. Looking all around him, Henderson made his way to the other side of the limo and towards the front passenger-door. He climbed inside as Pierce sat down. "And pray-tell, WHERE are we going?" he said finally and sternly.

"On your way here, did you drive by what appeared a burnt-out building?" Henderson asked. Pierce rose an eyebrow. "We did.. military said there'd been a fire but nothing too dangerous" he replied. "Well, that's good because that's where we're going. The burnt-out building" came the response. The veteran agent looked at him in surprise. "You don't know the full story – the chain of events became in that building, they'll end in that building. You'll understand when the plan takes shape.." Henderson remarked, just seconds before the missile launched by Benediktov slammed into the ground and near the front cars of the motorcade, exploding on impact. The shock-waves from the explosion ripped through the cars and settled in front of the limo, smashing the windscreen and pushing both Henderson and Pierce as far back into their seats as humanely possible. To Pierce, he had no idea what could have happened; but Henderson knew full well what the explosion was. A missile, which meant that Cannavale was likely still alive and hunting him down.

All around him, he could hear terrified screams and he looked over at Pierce, pointing the gun. "Drive!" he ordered, though no longer confident in his plans – he was getting really nervous. The veteran agent could sense this but did nothing as he started the limo and slammed the gear into reverse. As the car went in the opposite direction, Henderson grabbed the controls to Project Connaughton and looked over them, wanting to make sure they were set correctly. And they were – programmed to overfly and patrol the city but set to attack an enemy party if the weapon detected it. It was the best option Henderson had at present, considering he had no idea on Cannavale's whereabouts and even less idea that it was actually Benediktov behind the attack.

–

 **DC City Centre**

Jack and Belcheck looked out of the helicopter windscreen at the sight before them – DC was down below them. "Right, you still want to head to the White House, Jack?" the female pilot asked. "Yeah – you don't have to land, just get close enough to the White House for us to jump out" the former agent insisted. Nodding, the male pilot moved the control gear slightly to the left and the air ambulance's route altered ever so slightly. Suddenly, Belcheck spotted something. "Jack.." he said simply and pointed outwards at the sky. Following the Serb's finger, the former agent froze as he spotted a missile rocketing past the city and towards the outskirts, in the direction of the burnt-out remains of Guardstrom HQ. The sight of the missile could mean only one thing – Benediktov was nearby and using the missiles to go after Henderson. If they weren't careful, who knew what could happen?

The missile continued on its way over the east of the city and into the outskirts near the remains of Guardstrom HQ. From peering out of the wing-view mirror, Henderson saw it approaching from above – and his blood immediately went cold. What was this? First the missile that destroyed the front vehicles in the motorcade and now this? What was Cannavale trying to do? Suddenly, just as soon as it had appeared, the missile exploded in mid-air, taking nearly everyone by surprise. From having been in the Secret Service for such a long time, Pierce had learnt to adapt to pretty much anything and everything and as such, did not even flinch at the sound or the slight sight of the missile exploding. Instead, he took his chance with Henderson distracted and clearly on edge and spun the limo's steering wheel sharply to the right; the limo went flying over the road, onto the grass and straight into a bush. The impact sent Henderson flying forward and straight into the front passenger panel, momentarily concussing him. Wasting no time at all, Pierce raced towards the back of the limo and opened the door.

"Sir, come on! Here's our chance to get away from him!" he insisted, only for Stephen to take Patrick and put him in the hands of the veteran agent. "No.. you go, Aaron. Take Patrick and get out of here – Teri and I will hold him off" he replied coldly. Pierce couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Sir?" he asked. "Dad doesn't want Patrick getting hurt and neither do I. Go, get to the city. Find Grandpa.." Teri said suddenly. Pierce didn't know what to say but then he spotted something. Stephen's leg was showing signs of injury and Teri looked like she wouldn't be able to get far. They weren't trying to hold Henderson off, they were indeed giving Pierce a chance to escape. He looked down at Patrick and into the two year old's eyes. "Alright, sir. I'll be back.." he said before he ran as fast as his body would allow him to, up the grassy embankment and onto the main road. He knew he'd passed a car about a minute ago, that would prove to be his best shot.

As for Henderson, he'd by now regained his senses and clambered out of the car, looking desperately for any signs of Pierce – instead, all he found were Stephen and Teri in the back of the limo, the former glaring and the latter looking scared. "Well.. at least you two are still here. More than enough reason for Bauer to come out.." he said, albeit very uneasily as he looked back up at the sky. His confidence was shot and it was fair to say that paranoia was starting to settle in; he was really hoping Bauer would fall into his trap soon, or there was a chance his thirst for vengeance could turn into a bloodbath and with him on the wrong side of it.

As for Benediktov, meanwhile, the sports-car was still racing down the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. The General peered out and spotted the sign on the side of the road. DC was just a few miles away. He had to find Henderson first though and that potentially meant having to dodge Project Connaughton as well. He had a good idea of where he may well be, but he was on the other side of the city. He peered down at the launchers. 7 left out of 16. Still more than enough and that was all that mattered to the Russian. Fulfilling his revenge against Jeremy Henderson.

–

 **White House**

The main gates on the property towards the White House slowly opened – and as Novick, Chloe and a Secret Service agent all emerged from the main building, they saw a car come through the gates and up the driveway at a faster speed than usual. As Novick headed down the steps, the car came to a stop in front of her and finally, Jack emerged. The Acting President knew that whilst it had only been five hours since he'd last seen the former agent, Jack looked like as though he was ready to collapse in a heap and do nothing but sleep for the rest of the week. The events in London, coupled with the attempts to kill him in Eastern Europe as well as having to deal with the threats in DC, were finally starting to catch up with the former CTU agent. "Jack.." Novick said almost in relief as he moved forward towards the car. Jack closed the car door and immediately shook hands with the Acting President. Looking slightly to his left, Novick could see Belcheck also climbing out of the car. "What's the latest? Anything on my family?" Jack asked quietly. Novick sadly shook his head.

"We've got our best on it, but considering some bits of communication are still down, we're not too hopeful at present. I've had to send Kim to be looked over in the medical bay, she's almost in hysterics – and I don't blame her. Who the hell would go over her family like that?" he replied almost in anger and disgust. Jack swallowed. "It just has to be Henderson. Benediktov, we have no idea where he is and if what Gumushan said is accurate, he's likely targeting Henderson directly. What good would he really have in targeting Stephen and the kids?" he theorized. As the two were talking, Belcheck walked past the front of the car and spotted Chloe coming towards him, a look of slightly hidden relief on her face. "How you holding up?" the Serb asked, knowing that whilst he had gone through nearly drowning in a submarine and being chased by one of Benediktov's missiles, Chloe had been through probably even worse. "I'm doing alright" the former analyst insisted though she didn't sound so convinced. "Well... what's happening right now? Anything abnormal?" Belcheck replied, picking up on Chloe not sounding very convinced but opting to keep quiet.

"Not really, though having the electricity cut off for a large chunk of the last hour hasn't helped. We're still playing catch-up" Chloe admitted. "Did you figure out what caused the electricity to be cut off?" the Serb asked, a thought suddenly springing to mind. The former analyst rose an eyebrow. "We think it could have been an EMP but we can't be sure, why?" she said. "Have you spoken to anyone else in the city – the FBI, the Pentagon?" the Serb insisted, the pieces of the puzzle slowly starting to form. Chloe shook her head. "We tried to when restoring power but we just couldn't get through to them and we've not had a chance to speak to them since power did come back" she admitted. Belcheck looked out at what he could of the city centre. "It wasn't just the White House that was hit – up until the bridges going over the Potomac, whole city centre was hit! Someone wanted complete electrical silence for a reason.." he explained his theory and Chloe's eyes shot up. "JACK!" she yelled, ignoring the fact he was literally right in front of her. She tried to repeat what Belcheck had told her, but was cut off by a rumbling that got ever louder. Belcheck looked up at the sky and his jaw almost dropped. "Look!" he yelled and everyone followed his eyeline. Suddenly, Project Connaughton emerged from the skies and dropped down low – all four people ducked down to avoid being hit but instead, the weapon completely flew over them and over the White House before heading back up into the sky and towards the clouds.

"Was that...?" Chloe spluttered as the rumbling subsided. "Yeah.. that was the weapon we encountered and if I'm correct, that confirms two things" Jack replied. Novick rose an eyebrow. "What does it confirm?" he asked, intrigued. "That Henderson is out there – based on what we've heard, he's the only one who could have had a chance of getting control of the weapon – and that Benediktov is still alive. Why else would the weapon go that way?" the former analyst theorized. "Which means that the city is still in danger" Chloe finished, slowly realizing what Jack was saying. "Based on what? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't we see the weapon go in a direction OUT of the city?" the Acting President pointed out, now somewhat confused. "Yes it did and with respect, think about it Mike! Both Henderson and Benediktov are still out there and they're gonna be going after each other! Benediktov still has the missiles and Henderson still has the controls to that weapon!" Jack almost snapped.

The gravity of the situation finally became clear to Novick, who found himself unable to reply. "We know the destructive force of Benediktov's missiles and just what that super-weapon can do. If we don't stop either of them soon.." Jack added, pausing just before he could finish his sentence – he didn't need to finish, everyone knew that anything he said would be spot on in their minds. If they didn't stop either one of Benediktov or Henderson quickly, their all-out battle could easily descend into a war that would completely level the city. Once again, time was proving to be their most dreaded enemy.

" _Hello! Hello, is anyone there?_ " a voice suddenly called, taking Jack by surprise and he immediately opened the driver-side door of the car, grabbing the radio where the voice was calling from. " _Hello?! Please, someone answer!_ " the voice called again as the former agent pulled the radio receiver up to his mouth. "This is Jack Bauer.. who is this?" he asked hopefully. The seconds ticked by with no response. " _Oh, Jack! You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice!_ " came the reply. Novick and Jack exchanged a confused look as Chloe and Belcheck came over, intrigued by the new voice. Just who on earth was this mysterious person and could he or she be trusted?

–

10:00:00AM

* * *

Ok... I know what you're thinking (again). Let me explain:

1\. Beneath Heather's exterior and personality, there lies a genius. One of the reasons her mother sent her away as mentioned 12 chapters ago was for treatment for her bipolar at a clinic. This was the official reason in Heather's eyes; unofficially, it was so her genius-side could be fine-tuned and developed as a means of attack. President Walkman wanted to use Heather's genius as means of a weapon in the event her plans went badly wrong or if Project Connaughton was hijacked - in her mind, Heather served as the last defence of Guardstrom. Should the super-weapon be hijacked, all Heather had to do was hack into the artificial intelligence mainframe and destroy the weapon to avoid it falling into enemy hands.

2\. A basic sum-up of the power struggle: Benediktov was planning to strike at America's heart and show that Europe would no longer tolerate American interference. Walkman planned to use Benediktov as a cover for developing the super-weapon and using it to destroy the government, framing the A.F.E and plunging America and Europe into war to which Guardstrom would greatly benefit financially. Henderson planned to eliminate the American presidency and Jack in one fell swoop as a form of vengeance surrounding the Sentox conspiracy; to do so, he planned to steal Project Connaughton and use it as a means of eliminating Jack and the presedency, framing his enemies in the process. He would then sit back and watch as the world went to war over lies, the A.F.E taking the blame and Guardstrom being framed as a terrorist ally which would split America in half. Cannavale was just a pawn within all three plans; he had his own goals and vision and was motivated also by revenge, but coincidence and misunderstandings result in the loss of his life - though he did redeem himself by exposing Henderson and setting up the events of the next chapter.

Speaking of which, Chapter 24; I have no idea when it'll be up as I still have to plan it out. But what I can tell you is the basic plotline:  
"Jack prepares to face his darkest demons as the power struggle between Henderson and Benediktov threatens to turn into all-out war - whilst the race is on to protect Heather as she prepares to bring down Project Connaughton once and for all.. but not everyone will make it out alive.."

In the mean-time, please rate and review. All good things must come to an end and I promise a spectacular and satisfying ending is in sight..


	24. 24: 10am - 11am (WET)

HELLO! Well, this is it... the final curtain. The final chapter. The final part of the final day. Nearly two years after starting this story, it's done and dusted. And just in time for Christmas as well. Enjoy, my friends. It's a whopper of a chapter, the biggest one by far, and I promise the closure that I promised at the start of the story is there. Enjoy and strap yourselves in..

 **DISCLAIMER:** See Chapter 1

* * *

24: 10am – 11am (WET):

 **The following takes place between 10am and 11-08am, Washington Eastern Time:**

 **Events occur in real time**

–

10:00:01AM

 **White House**

As the seconds ticked by, it finally hit Jack who the voice on the radio belonged to. He hadn't heard it since New York, since seeing Kim for what appeared to have been the last time. "Stephen?" he cried out, not expecting to hear his voice considering what Chloe had told him only ten minutes ago. " _Yeah, Jack – it's me. I have someone here who wants to talk with you_ " Stephen replied, his voice immediately being replaced by that of a young girl. " _Grandpa, is that you?_ " the voice asked and Jack could tell from even a mile away who it was. "Hello, sweetheart. How's my favourite grand-daughter been all these years?" the former agent simply could not resist smiling at hearing Teri over the radio, though Novick's eyes rose in unexpected surprise and he found himself mouthing the words "grand-daughter" to Chloe, who could only nod. She at least knew who Teri was, having met her several times during Jack's recovery from the prion variant and before she took up the job at the new CTU in New York.

" _I'm doing good, I can't wait to see you again!_ " Teri responded, though Chloe made a slight face in confusion – something about how she was responding didn't sound right. "Neither can I, honey. Can I talk to Dad again?" Jack responded and after a few seconds, Stephen's voice returned. " _Everything ok, Jack?_ " he asked. "Yeah, everything's fine. Only I'd heard from Chloe only ten minutes ago that when Kim tried to contact you, she heard what appeared what to be _an ambush? Did you get away or...?_ " the former agent asked the burning question on the tip of his tongue. "We did, yeah. Pierce got ahead of us with Patrick, pretty sure he's within the city limits by now. Teri and I, we managed to hide.." Stephen explained, doing a pretty convincing job considering he was staring down the barrel of a gun currently held by Henderson. " _That's brilliant to hear, well done the two of you. But this guy, who was he...?_ " Jack asked, obviously unaware of who was there as well. "We don't know, but he was certainly American. Clean-shaven, _not much hair, rather tall.._ " came the reply, with the characteristics mentioned sending alarm bells through the ears of Jack, Chloe, Belcheck and Novick. Only one man fitted that description, there was no need for names.

"..and _I think I know where he could be_ " Stephen added, re-attracting Jack's attention. "Go on" he said. " _When he first took us hostage, he mentioned something to Pierce. Something about going to a burnt-out building that we'd passed minutes before-hand_ " his son-in-law revealed. To Jack, it suddenly hit him what Stephen meant by burnt-out building. Guardstrom HQ. "You think he's gone back to that building?" he asked. " _Pretty sure, Jack. Something about a chain_ of events starting and ending there.." Stephen replied. Even though he knew only the basics, the pieces of the puzzle began to come together. The chain had indeed started at Guardstom HQ – when Benediktov had attacked under the false pretence of a supposed attack on Russia, giving Henderson the chance to get his hands on the super-weapon. Had Henderson not lied to the Russian General, events would not have gotten to the point that they were at now. It made sense for that chain to end where it had started. "Alright, Stephen. I'm on my way, hang tight and I'll come and find you!" the former agent declared.

Stephen looked up at Henderson, who simply shook his head. "That's not a good idea, Jack. Forget about me and Teri – we'll be fine. From what we've seen, this guy's dangerous. He's much _more of a priority!_ " he insisted. Jack was a little taken aback but from further thought, the guy did have a bit of a point; Henderson was right within their grasp. If he tried to find his family, then he could easily get away and they'd have to hunt him down all over again. Who knows what he could do if they didn't capture him soon? "You're right.. ok, just try and see if you can get to the White House as soon as you can. Kim's already there and I _promise I'll see you soon_ " he conceded. At that, Stephen hung up and looked straight ahead at Henderson. "You did very well.. very convincing indeed!" the gun-man remarked. Stephen ignored this and looked to the side at his young daughter. "Alright, I've done what you asked. Now what?" he replied, looking back ahead. "Now? Now we continue my original plan – heading to the remains of that building. After all, Jack's expecting yoi there!" Henderson insisted, unflinchingly.

It was then that Stephen realized the man before them still had plans for him and for Teri.

–

As for Jack, almost as soon as his conversation with Stephen had ended, he had started racing into action – the confirmation that Henderson was potentially near Guardstrom HQ meant he had no time to race. But as much as Novick knew they couldn't let this chance to catch their man slide, he also knew that Jack couldn't do it alone. "Jack, listen. I appreciate we need to find and capture Henderson soon but I'd rather you didn't do it alone. You and Belcheck are gonna need back-up" he insisted. The former agent looked at the Acting President, almost sighing and shaking his head. "I appreciate we'll need back-up Mike, but WHERE are we going to get back-up at this stage?!" he responded, almost snapping. "And to be fair, sir, even if we found help, how quick could they meet with Jack? A second wasted.." Chloe jumped in, backing up her friend. "..is a seconds advantage to Henderson – do you not think I realize that, Chloe?" the Acting President snapped back.

Belcheck could feel the tensions rising between the three people before him – and it was at that moment that a thought dawned in his head. "What about the Marines? You know, the ones who helped at the Capitol Building?" he proposed. Jack stopped and thought about the proposal. "What about it, Mike?" he asked. "It's.. it's not that bad an idea. Ever since the Capitol was cleared for potential damage, I ordered them to wait there until I gave them new orders. If you're happy having them, Jack.." the Acting President replied, looking towards the former agent. "Alright, let them know. Tell them Belcheck and I are headed straight for Guardstrom!" Jack insisted, not needing to be told twice. The Serb mobster would have responded at that point as it quickly became apparent that Jack had forgotten something important but he had no chance to say anything as suddenly Jack's phone began to ring. The former agent immediately snapped it open and put it on speaker. "This is Bauer" he spoke into it. " _Hey, Jack! It's me, just thought I'd let you know Heather and I are not far off from the city centre!_ " a voice replied. Gumushan.

Almost immediately, Belcheck came up and took the phone off Jack. "Gumushan, it's Belcheck. Whereabouts are you exactly?" he asked. " _I'd say about five to ten minutes away._ The only reason I'm ringing is we may need some help; Heather has started hacking into the weapon.." the Turkish-Cyprian explained as he looked over at Heather, who looked like as though she was in a world of her own, fighting through what appeared to be Project Connaughton's mainframe. To Jack and Belcheck, Gumushan's response needed no further explanation. If Heather was hacking into the weapon, there was a strong chance Henderson would pick up on it and send the super-weapon after Heather to kill her. "Hang tight, I'll meet you on the outskirts – until then, just keep the girl safe!" Belcheck said suddenly, much to the surprise of Jack. " _Thanks, 'check. You're a life-saver!_ " Gumushan replied before hanging up. "Belcheck? I'm gonna need you with me.." Jack attempted to reason, only for the Serb to stop him. "If we're gonna stop Henderson, we need someone to stop that weapon as well – if me going to help Gumushan is best option available, so be it; we need to give the girl as much time as we can!" he pointed out.

Jack sighed, knowing the Serb mobster was right on that front. "Alright.. I'll go to the HQ on my own, with the Marines. You give Heather as much time as she needs to hack that thing!" he relented as he turned to face Chloe. "Chloe?" he started. "Way ahead of you, Jack! If you go now, the Marines will be ready by the time you pass the Capitol Building" the former analyst replied. Not needing to be told twice, Jack climbed back into the car he and Belcheck had arrived in and raced off down the road. "Belcheck!" Chloe yelled suddenly and the mobster turned around just in time for the former analyst to throw him a pair of car keys. "They're the keys to one of the cars belonging to the Secret Service; go help Gumushan!" she explained. Again, the Serb mobster didn't need to be told twice and he ran in the direction of the parking garage whilst both Chloe and Novick headed back inside.

–

 **Outskirts of DC**

Racing off of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway was the sports-car – and much to the surprise of the driver, being forced to drive at the speed he was by his passenger, there was not much in the way of activity going into the city. "That's odd – I would have thought the streets would be a bit more packed considering what you said about the attacks!" he noted, a tad suspicious as he peered over slightly over at his passenger.

"Your thoughts are valid, young Edward. But you are missing a key factor. If people can't get out, they go underground. Clearly the citizens are simply hiding out of sight." General Benediktov replied calmly, giving what he believed to be a reasoned explanation for Ed's suspicions – though admittedly, he also knew that people would not have been able to get very far anyway because of the military checkpoints that Acting President Novick had given the order for a couple of hours ago. "Well there's that.. but still, it's a bit scary. As an American, I would never expect a city like Washington DC to be as subdued and silent as this – heck, I doubt wherever the hell you come from in Russia would be as silent as THIS!" Ed pointed out whilst keeping his eyes on the road as they approached the city limits. "That is true, you are right. And for the record, I am actually from Yekaterinburg. It's a very nice place, I recommend you visit some time" the General said calmly, straying a little off topic much like he had done on the Yuri Dolgorukiy.

"Oh right. Well, I'll certainly consider visiting this place on the off chance that we GET OUT OF THIS ALIVE!" the driver suddenly snapped, having shifted from early sarcasm. Benediktov was a little surprised by this outburst. "For all this talk you have of trying to eliminate a chain of destruction and of using those things, General, you've not even given any consideration to whether or not we're gonna get out of this in one piece or not! This may surprise you, but I have a family and I would much rather have the luxury of being able to see them again..." Ed insisted. A still silence fell between the two men. "And considering I'm helping you, the authorities are gonna brand me a traitor regardless of whether you're trying to stop these people or not, so I won't get to see your Yekaterinburg anyway" he finally added. Benediktov sighed. The driver was right in all cases. This was essentially a suicide mission and no matter what the overall circumstances may be, he had no right whatsoever to bring an innocent man into his death plot. Ed was just a bystander.

"You are quite correct, Edward. I had no right to bring you into this. But at the same time, I had no use for you beyond getting me to DC. As soon as we're at the right place, you are free to go. No ifs, no buts. The police and the military won't suspect a thing" he replied. Ed looked at him, the relief on his face now fully clear. "You really mean that?" he asked. He had to make sure. "I do really mean that. For the record, however, I also have a family. A daughter. What I am doing, bringing down the chain of destruction, I am doing it for her. Your actions in driving me here, you have done them for your family even if you don't realize it" Benediktov confirmed. Ed sighed and would have given a half-smile if not for the fact he could see something in the distance. It looked like a checkpoint, a military checkpoint. "I think we better slow down" he said. The General peered ahead. "No need to stop.. just accelerate through it" he said almost as if it didn't concern him. "Are you kidding? We can't accelerate through a military checkpoint, that's just asking for trouble!" Ed spluttered. He couldn't believe that Benediktov was actually proposing the idea. "I said... speed through. As soon as we're through, you're free to go!" the Russian insisted, pulling his gun out of his holster.

Ed clearly did not like the idea being put forward, but considering General Benediktov was the man with all the cards, he wasn't about to risk his life – not that he was this close to being able to escape with his life. He pushed down on the accelerator and watched through the windscreen as the checkpoint came closer and closer. Soldiers dived out of the way as the sports-car raced through. The General looked out through the back windscreen. "Here's good, stop the car!" he ordered, the words that Ed was dying to hear. He pushed down on the brake and put the car into the lowest gear, letting out another sigh of relief as the car screeched to a halt. "Alright, I'll take it from here. Get out!" Benediktov ordered, pointing his gun at the driver. Ed didn't need to be told twice and he scrambled out of the car. "I appreciate what you have done for me, son. If I get the chance before everything goes down.. I'll make sure to tell of your innocence" was all he heard from the Russian before he moved into the drivers seat.

Ed could only watch as the car raced off down the road, unsure of where Benediktov was going. It was probably for the better.

–

 **Outskirts of Guardstrom Headquarters**

Considering the slight state that the limo was in – especially considering that it had essentially been run off the road after the near-miss with the missile – it was still drivable, much to Henderson's surprise. It had taken a minute to get it running and turned around, but he had managed to do that and now he was reaping the rewards. He drove the limo up a slight hill and it arrived just where he had expected it to – outside the large car park of Guardstrom Headquarters. He smashed the limo through the barbed wire fence and raced towards the wrecked, but remarkably still standing, remains of the front building before finally coming to a screeching halt.

In the back, Stephen slowly looked up – as soon as the limo had smashed through the barbed wire fence, he had resisted all the pain he felt from trying to move his leg and left over Teri. Henderson strolled out from the driver's seat and towards the back, forcing the door open. "We are here.. come see the surroundings of the final showdown!" he remarked very sarcastically. Stephen slowly got out and slammed his hand onto the roof to keep himself on-balance as he helped his young daughter into the open. The moment Teri was out, he had a look around the surrounding area – and was openly shocked by what he saw. On the far side of the limo, he could see what appeared to have been a steady row of parked cars, all smashed up and wrecked as if they had been smashed into by a large vehicle. Following the row of smashed cars, he found himself looking at the front building for the headquarters. His eyes widened as he saw what remained of the building – it was completely wrecked with pieces of rumble flooding the ground floor and surrounding what appeared to have been a fuel tanker. Something big had clearly gone down.

In the distance, however, Henderson could clearly hear what he thought were sirens. The missile attack had managed to trick the few military members guarding the remains of the complex into leaving the area and now it was pretty likely they were coming back. "Let's move! We don't get in now, chances are we never will!" he ordered, pulling out his gun and pointing them at his captives. But Stephen only glared at him. "I can't very well move anyway.. YOU'LL have to help, just tell Teri where to go" he pointed out. Henderson did not look happy at this but with the sirens coming ever closer, he sighed in annoyance and moved towards Stephen. "Alright, I'll help you get inside" he said as he put his gun out of immediate reach and allowed the young father to put his shoulder over his. "Teri.. just do what the man says" Stephen said as his daughter looked back at him, deathly scared. Henderson pointed towards the rubble. "Walk over the bits of rubble, I know there's an underground route beyond that" he ordered. It was incredibly fair to say that Teri just did not want to have to do this but considering the clean-shaven man had the upper hand, the young girl had no real choice. Her legs feeling like jelly, she made her way towards the rubble.

–

 **United States Capitol**

Almost as soon as Jack had arrived at the Capitol Building, obviously the earlier scene of an attempt by Guardstrom to utilize one of their canisters of VX gas as well as a forced siege by Belcheck to get the attention of the White House and warn them of a mole of their ranks, he could see a group of US Marines on the grass outside. He climbed out of the car and walked towards the group, their leader spotting him. "Mr Bauer?" he asked, getting the former agent's attention. "That's me" he said, quickly spotting he hadn't seen this Marine before. "Connor Boyle, sir. Ms O'Brien has already spoken to us, we'll be ready to go as soon as the helicopter is here" the Marine explained as he shook hands with Jack. The mere thought of having to travel in yet another helicopter would have been enough to put Jack off travelling in them for quite some time – anyone looking at him would have thought the former agent to be cursed when it came to helicopters and whilst he was anything but superstitious, he wouldn't have said he disagreed with the idea – but he had to get to Guardstrom HQ as quickly as possible. Going by car just would not have cut it.

"That's fair enough, though might I make a suggestion? We actually land in the park and head to the HQ by foot. If Henderson spots the helicopter, the operation will be dead before it's even started" Jack suddenly proposed. Boyle mulled it over and realized the former agent did have a point. Whilst they needed to get to the remains of the HQ as quickly as they could, they needed to be discreet as well. They'd managed to corner this Henderson character but it would all be for nothing if he spotted the helicopter coming towards him; he would just go back on the run and they'd be chasing shadows until they got him, which meant an increased likelihood of another attack. "Very well, Jack. I'll tell the pilot when he gets here" he agreed. "Thank you" Jack said and at that, the Marine left to inform his group of the change in plans. The former agent looked out at the landscape surrounding the Capitol Building – and it was then that he spotted the fallen remains of the Washington Monument, one of the first targets during the various attacks on the city itself. One of the victims of the vicious power struggle between the Allied Forces of Europe, Guardstrom and Henderson.

At least when everything was done and Henderson was caught, the truth would trickle out. The American people would know who the terrorists are; and in thinking about it, so would the countries of Europe. The various governments of the European countries, as well as the European Commission, had already contacted the White House to personally condemn and disavow the A.F.E – many of those governments, including the Ukraine, Russia, Bosnia and Croatia, had all denounced the group as "opportunistic far-right terrorists trying to spark war". Couple that with General Benediktov openly surrendering in return for playing a part in trying to stop Henderson and the group was fin-

Jack suddenly stopped dead in his thoughts. Benediktov! Because everyone had been so focused on closing in on Henderson, they had completely forgotten about Benediktov. Following the attack by the super-weapon as reported by Gumushan, the General had practically disappeared. He was still out there and no-one had any idea of where – though the Turkish-Cyprian had theorized that maybe he was already in or on his way to the city, trying to locate Henderson himself. "God-damn it.." the former agent swore. What if he went back on his word, used the missiles to continue his campaign of terror against the country? Ok, from Gumushan said, it looked as though the General's only target at present was Henderson but that could very well change. He was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of spinning rotors above him. He looked up to see a helicopter coming in to land on the grass outside the Capitol Building. As much as he dreaded the thought, Benediktov was the last thing on his mind. Henderson was in control of one of the most advanced and most powerful weapons he had ever seen and he took priority over the General. "Jack! Let's move!" Boyle shouted as he climbed onto the helicopter. The former agent wasn't about to be told a second time and he raced across the grass to the helicopter, accepting a helping hand from the senior Marine as he climbed aboard.

As the helicopter slowly climbed back into the sky, Jack shook his head. As soon as they had Henderson, they HAD to find Benediktov – not just for him, but also for the missile launchers.

–

 **White House**

Belcheck could see the helicopter rising into the sky from outside the White House – that was the signal he needed. "Jack's airborne! Keep me informed of how he does" he said, speaking into a radio as he climbed into the car parked outside of the building. " _Will do, Belcheck. It won't be much as we're trying to keep Henderson in the dark but when I get something.._ " Chloe said over the radio as the Serb mobster started up the car.

"Got it. I'll hopefully see you later. Good luck!" he responded. " _You too_ " the former analyst finished, as Belcheck pushed down on the car's accelerator. It headed down the gravel road, away from the White House and onto the road surrounding it, before sharply swinging the steering wheel to the left. It wasn't going to be busy trying to protect Heather and Gumushan from being killed, especially with that dangerous weapon flying through the skies, but the Serb had to at least try and help them.

–

 **Skies above Washington DC**

Speaking of Project Connaughton, at that moment, the super-weapon was in a circling formation over the skies of the city. For a moment, everything seemed fine with it.. but then for a split second, the spinning sphere underneath the main body of the weapon went dead. There was no activity from it whatsoever.

And then just as soon as it had gone dead, the sphere came back to life. And then it went dead again. For 20 continuous seconds, the sphere flip-flopped between losing all activity and then coming back to life as if it hadn't been affected. Someone was clearly happening to the weapon's main-frame, as though someone was trying but so far failing to hack into it. But considering the rate that the sphere was flip-flopping, it was surely only a matter of time before control was ultimately lost.

–

 **DC City Centre**

Down on the ground, meanwhile, Benediktov was racing along the roads of the city centre. There were less military checkpoints than he thought there would have been, but that didn't matter too much to him. He just needed to get to Guardstrom and fast – at the same time, he had no definite evidence that Henderson was at the wrecked remains of the headquarters but he just had a gut feeling that the man who had used him as a pawn would be there. Besides, the missiles had also tracked the super-weapon to the HQ; what more evidence did he need that Henderson was there?

As he carefully raced through the streets, sometimes being able to drive on the roads and other times having to drive on the pavements in order to avoid parked cars, he suddenly picked up the briefcase and snapped it open. He pulled out a launcher, alternating between looking over it and looking out at the road ahead. It was probably a good thing that he chose one particular moment to look out at the road as had he not, he would have been so concentrated on the launcher that he would have ended up missing the hole in the road. "Damn it!" Benediktov swore in Russian as he slammed on the brakes, but it ended up proving to be just too late as the car fell through the hole and landed in the tunnel that he had been in nearly 2 hours previously, the car still on its wheels. The General quickly made sure to check that the launchers were still in one piece. He climbed out of the sports-car and looked up at the hole, shaking his head.

But then he stopped. He looked down where he had landed, realizing exactly where he was – the tunnel going away from Guardstrom! He smiled as he peered down the tunnel, the same tunnel that Walkman had tried to use in her failed escape following Cannavale's attack on the complex. The same tunnel that Bauer and that Serb guy had blown open in order to locate the Walkman girl. His task had just gotten a whole lot more easier. He had planned to be extra on the lookout in the event of Henderson detecting him, but the guy would never suspect him coming in from this level and this direction. He quickly climbed back into the car and grabbed the launcher. He was going to put Henderson right on edge and make him essentially go on the offensive against shadows; by the time it began clear to him that the Russian was pulling him into a false sense of security, it would be too late. He would be right on top of him and then, and only then, would he be able to secure his revenge.

Starting the car engine back up, he began to make his way down the tunnel but considering what happened with the hole in the road, he decided to be a little cautious in the event he ran into someone or something that could ruin his plan. He put the car into the second-lowest gear and put all of his attention on the launcher, programming in co-ordinates.

–

10:09:47AM

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

Henderson turned out to have been correct. There was indeed an underground route just beyond what remained of the front building that led to the lower levels of the complex – and that was where he and his two captives currently were, making their way down to the below-ground levels of the headquarters. There had been concerns raised that the small tunnel wasn't very stable and could very well collapse at any given moment but they were brushed aside without even a thought. At present, Teri was having to help her father down through the small tunnel mainly because Henderson was looking over the controls for the super-weapon. Normally he would have trusted the artificial intelligence for Project Connaughton but following the near-miss missile before the end of the last hour, he simply could not leave it to chance.

"Hold up, you two. I need to check over something quickly" he suddenly said to both Teri and Stephen. Both of them looked at him like as if he was mad considering the instability of the tunnel, but he paid no attention to them. He scanned the controls before pressing down on a button with what looked like a microphone above it. "How is the current position of the weapon?" he spoke into it. " _Project Connaughton is currently overflying the DC city centr..._ " the A.I voice replied before suddenly cutting off abruptly mid-word. To Henderson's further surprise, many of the lit buttons on the control set went dead over quite a number of seconds. " _Connection terminated, please re-connect or take manual control.._ " the voice slurred, like it had been hit with a variation of a virus. Stephen and Teri noticed the look on Henderson's face; he couldn't understand what had happened.

And then it hit him. "No.. no that can't..." he said, slowly beginning to panic. There could only be one explanation for what was happening – someone or something was trying to hack into the main-frame for the super-weapon. The weapon was currently running on the orders given to its Artificial Intelligence and not being operated manually with the controls. " _Connection re-established!_ " the voice suddenly said with the lights coming back on; that's something, he thought to himself. He looked up at his captives, desperately trying but failing to not let the panic show. "Come on! Sooner we're out of here.." he snapped as he jumped to his feet – he pressed the briefcase with the controls inside close to his chest and started to herd his captives down through the small tunnel. His job had just gotten a whole lot harder. The weapon operating on A.I was one thing but the weapon having to be controlled manually was another matter. It meant that he would have to be on even more of a lookout for Bauer when he eventually arrived. He would have to re-think his plans so far and very quickly as well.

Finally, it appeared that the end of the tunnel was in sight – as he watched Stephen and Teri make their way towards what looked like the way of the tunnel, he turned his focus towards the controls. After another scan of the controls, he disabled a large red button. " _Warning – Artificial Intelligence controls disabled; please re-connect or take manual control!_ " the voice insisted. "Way ahead of ya, calm down!" Henderson responded sarcastically, almost like as if he was literally talking to someone in the flesh, as he started to secure the controls to his body with the metal poles. "That's more like it.." he added as moved for the control sticks themselves, before finally joining his captives at the very end of the tunnel. It wasn't what he wanted but it would have to do.

–

 **Outskirts of Guardstrom Headquarters**

The helicopter rose into the sky and back towards the city centre, having successfully dropped off Jack and the Marines within the Colmar Manor park. The Marines were now lying on a gradient, on the grass, and scanning the area beyond the park with periscope binoculars. "What do you see, Pence?" Boyle asked one of the Marines using the binoculars as he lay next to Jack, who was waiting and plotting their next move. "To be honest, sir – not that much. The complex is still pretty much standing and there doesn't seem to be much... hang on!" the man called Pence stated before stopping. "What is it, son?" Jack asked.

"It may not seem like much but ahead of us.. there's a large gap in the chain fence leading into the car park – and ahead of that, right near the remains of the entry-way, I can see a limousine there!" Pence explained. But before the former agent could reply, he was interrupted. "Sir!" another Marine nearly shouted as he raced towards Boyle. "For gods sake, Arnold, keep your voice and your body down!" the leader of the Marines snapped at his youthful sub-ordinate. "But sir, you and Mr Bauer need to see this!" Arnold insisted, turning on his heel and heading back to where he had emerged from. Jack and Boyle looked at each other before moving to follow the young Marine, making sure to keep out of immediate sight in the process. As Jack spotted where Arnold was standing, he noticed almost immediately what it was that the Marine wanted him to see – there were long stretches of dirt going back a long way and going way over the gradient towards the chain fence that looked like as though the grass had been torn up. Torn up by a vehicle?

"Considering what Pence said about the limo outside the main building, I thought this might explain where it came from" Arnold explained. Boyle looked down at the tracks. "That's good actually, Arnold – any idea what the tracks originated from?" he asked. "Yes! I checked further and it seems that they originally came from literally right next to the road! Almost as if someone had run the limo off the road to begin with.." the young Marine theorized. "Well then.. if Henderson is in there as originally thought, we know HOW we got there. Arnold, tell the others we're closing in. We go over the gradient in two minutes!" Boyle ordered. "Sir!" Arnold nodded and saluting before heading to tell the remainder of the group of Marines. "To tell you the truth, Jack, I didn't think Henderson would be as sloppy as to actually leave dirt tracks – but his mistake, he'll pay for it.." Boyle said as he walked off.

But Jack was concerned. Something felt wrong, very wrong. This was around the area that he had gotten that phone call from Stephen from – and come to think of it, if Pierce had been driving, then he should well have been driving a limo. Yes, he had heard from both Stephen and Teri and Stephen had said that Pierce had managed to get ahead of them, but there was this nagging feeling he had that the phone call had seemed too good to be true. Why would Henderson use such an obvious vehicle and why would he leave tracks to his location for anyone to see? In fact, come to think of it, he hadn't seen anything of his son-in-law or his grand-daughter at all. They couldn't have gotten very far on foot and they couldn't have used the limo considering where it currently is now either – and surely the remaining vehicles used in the motorcade couldn't have been that far back or else he would have seen them by now. There was one possibility left but the mere thought of it sent a chill down his spine.

Trying to shrug it off, he headed back in the direction of the group of Marines.

–

 **Baltimore-Washington Parkway**

Approaching the outskirts of the city centre on the parkway, in pretty much the same fashion as the sports-car about 10 minutes previously, was the ambulance. In the front driving seat was the unnamed paramedic, who breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the sign indicating that they were only a few minutes from the outskirts of the city. "Al? We're not too far off from the hospital" he called, expecting his colleague to hear his voice. But no reply came. "Al?" the paramedic said again, frowning. And it was at that point that he realized; he hadn't heard a peep out of his colleague since they left the crash site. He had known Al for years and he was rarely ever this quiet. "You there, Al?" he asked again and tried to force open the panel between the front area of the ambulance and the back. But it wouldn't budge.

So he was lucky that at point, the panel suddenly opened – but then Gumushan emerged, pointing a gun at the paramedic. "Terribly sorry for the inconvenience, my friend, but I'm gonna need your ambulance" he said. The paramedic tried to keep a straight face and turned his focus back to the road ahead of him. "What have you done with Al?" he snapped. "Nothing too serious – he's unconscious at the minute but he'll be back with us sooner rather than later" the Turkish-Cyprian insisted as he climbed into the passenger seat. "Now please, just get in the back with the girl. Circumstances have changed and we can't afford to go to the hospital, not at this stage anyway" he added. The paramedic looked at him like as if he was mad, but then looked out at the road ahead of him. "Alright, if you're gonna take the wheel.. make it fast" he relented before unfastening his seat-belt. Gumushan looked at him gratefully as he waited for the paramedic to climb out of the drivers seat before squeezing past. He managed to get his hands on the wheel, just as the original driver made his way into the back. His eyes quickly widened as he settled eyes on his friend and fellow colleague.

"Don't worry – he's still alive, we've not killed him" Heather said unflinchingly and without even looking up from the iPad she was using. The paramedic looked rather unnerved by the teenager's attitude but said nothing as he sat down, only to jump straight back up when Heather snapped. "God no! Gods sake, how did he realize?" she almost shouted, startling Gumushan slightly. "Everything ok?" he asked, worried as to what the issue was. "No! Don't ask me how, but Henderson's figured out what we're doing! He's taken manual control; even if I manage to hack in successfully, it won't mean anything. I'll just be a bystander within the main-frame!" the teenage Walkman replied. That was not what Gumushan had wanted to hear. "How close are you into hacking in fully?" he asked. "About another 25 minutes and it should be done – but you clearly didn't hear me because unless Henderson goes off manual control, I won't be able to do a thing!" Heather snapped, under the belief that the Turkish-Cyprian hadn't listened to what she had just said. "Alright, alright. We'll think of something, Henderson can't take manual control forever after all" Gumushan wisely pointed out.

At that point, his phone began to rang and he snapped it open in an instance. "This is Gumushan" he said. " _Hello, Mustafa! Just wondering whereabouts are you at the minute?_ " a thick accented voice replied. Belcheck. "At present, Belcheck, I'd say about five minutes from the city itself. But we may have hit a _problem_ " he replied. "What kind of problem? Please don't tell me it's with the weapon main-frame!" the Serb replied as he navigated the empty DC streets. " _Well let's be honest, yes and no. Heather's still able to hack into the main-frame but she suspects Henderson has taken manual control._ Unless the weapon goes off of manual control, Heather won't be able to do a thing once the hack is complete" the Turkish-Cyprian explained. " _Ok, I can understand that.._ " Belcheck replied. He felt a little unsure on how to comprehend what he had been told. What if Jack was unable to get anywhere near Henderson once he found him – or worse, what if he's killed whilst trying to stop him? Henderson would have a clear shot to take his destructive reign to the next level. It was fair to say Jack's task had gotten a lot more harder.

Unless.. unless there was some other way of fighting back AGAINST the manual control! He had no idea on whether it was possible to actually do that but it was worth a shot. "I may have an idea. You may think it's stupid or crazy or even both, but if it works.. Henderson will have a fight on his hands!" the Serb mobster quickly added. Gumushan suddenly became rather interested. "Oh? What is it, I'm interested?" he asked. " _Can't tell you right now, Mustafa. All I can say is that Henderson's taken manual control, there's a strong chance that_ he could well be coming your way! You're gonna have to drive like crazy but we need to get the weapon low enough to the ground! All I can say _for now!_ " Belcheck responded before promptly hanging up. Gumushan was bemused and bewildered, almost like a deer in the headlights. What the hell was Belcheck planning on doing? He talked as if it was a plan only a maniac would attempt.

Below the city and within the tunnels, meanwhile, Benediktov was still on his way towards Guardstrom HQ from underneath. But he was still going at a bit of a snails pace compared to when he was racing through the streets above him, as he still had some focus on the missile launcher in his hand. He was having a bit of trouble trying to locate the trail he had used to track the super-weapon back towards the headquarters. "Come on.." the General hissed as he once again tried to follow the trail and lock onto the co-ordinates. But again, he failed. Normally, he would have thrown the launcher away from his grasp and taken the chance to calm down. But this time, something about his failure felt a-miss to the Russian. One minute he had been able to follow the trail, but then the next minute it had vanished without a trace; what could have made it disappear like that?

"Hang on a minute... who says I have to target the weapon?" he suddenly said to himself. In his over-excited and overconfident haste to move quickly and completely spook Henderson, he had instinctively decided to target just the weapon and nothing else. Who said he had to target the weapon only? There were plenty of targets that would work just as well in catching out Henderson. He grabbed the launcher and quickly keyed in a new set of co-ordinates before immediately firing. Within an instance and hundreds of miles away, the calm of the ocean was rudely broken as a missile emerged from the surface of the North Atlantic and rocketed into the sky. Just what was the General's target?

–

10:15:29AM

 **DC City Centre**

To the relief of Gumushan at the wheel of the ambulance, the DC city centre was in sight. The sooner he and Heather got into the city and out of what was likely to be the immediate line of fire, the better – Heather's reaction to having been effectively locked out of the weapon's main-frame was all the Turkish-Cyprian needed to know in that they were likely going to be targeted. But at least he knew that Belcheck was on his way to meet them; he felt just that bit more at ease knowing the Serb mobster was going to try and help deflect any attempts made against the teenager's life.

He quickly peered up at the skies, making sure there was nothing out of the ordinary. The last thing he needed was to see that large weapon descending towards him. But little did he know that there was something in the clouds above the city, preparing to descend from its white camouflage. Project Connaughton. Through a mild stroke of luck and through using what he could of the controls, Henderson had managed to lock on to the location where the attempt to hack into the super-weapon had originated from and was now using it as a guide for manual control. "Alright, easy does it.." he remarked to himself as he set to work. He and his captives had made it through the tunnel, with the first thing they had found being a wrecked hallway just one level above the very location that the super-weapon had been constructed in – Stephen and Teri could only watch through the shattered and dark remains of the platform overlooking the abandoned laboratories, as Henderson set to work. He slammed the control columns forward, with Project Connaughton suddenly going into a steep descent out of the clouds and towards the city and critically, towards the ambulance approaching the city limits.

Because Gumushan had been fixated on trying to avoid the abandoned vehicles ahead of him, he did not spot the large weapon emerging from the clouds – but Belcheck, rapidly closing in on Heather and the Turkish-Cyprian, did see it from the corner of his eye. Normally, he was stoic and rarely showing emotion, but on this occasion, he was starting to show signs of panic. His breathing elevated and he grabbed a firm hold of the steering wheel, before slamming down on the accelerator. If the weapon found its target, then Gumushan and the girl were practically dead. Nothing could survive being hit with whatever that weapon had for artillery – and then he, the Acting President and Chloe had no hope of stopping Henderson beyond Jack finally tracking him down. Who knew what Henderson could do in the time it took for Jack to find and kill him? The city was practically edging towards complete destruction and the consequences would be disastrous not just for the country, but effectively the rest of the world.

As he alternated between scanning the road ahead of him and the weapon descending closer and closer to the ground, he finally spotted the ambulance approaching from the left of the road approaching. He had a split-choice decision to make – and he made it as he raced towards the road ahead of him. High above him, the weapon continued its sharp descent towards the ground and the ambulance, Henderson managing to get it fully in its sight. "And.. fire" he said grimly as he pressed down on a blue button. On the weapon's right-hand wing, a panel opened up to reveal one of the remaining anti-tank missiles. Almost as soon as the panel had been opened, the missile was launched. It immediately rocketed downwards at a steep trajectory, the ambulance in its sight – and it was only when heard the missile being fired that Gumushan looked directly up. As he peered through the windscreen, his eyes widened at the sight of the anti-tank weapon plummeting towards him. And because he was so fixated on what was above him, he failed to notice the car coming towards the ambulance from the right.

Belcheck closed his eyes in anticipation, as the car slammed into the side of the ambulance. Because the car had been travelling quite fast, the Serb mobster largely expected the force of the collision to send the ambulance flying onto its side and along the side of the road for some distance – whilst admittedly crazy, he also knew that the weapon wouldn't be able to target the vehicle straight away. If manual control had been taken, the chances were that Henderson would have to get into a position to attack it from above and doing that in the weapon's current descent and position wouldn't have worked. But the ambulance had actually managed to absorb the energy from the collision and it managed to stay completely up-right, the energy instead pushing it straight down the road and out of the missile's line of fire. As a result, the missile raced past the two vehicles and slammed into the ground, exploding on impact but with enough energy to smash the windows of Belcheck's car, him opening his eyes at the sound of the glass breaking.

At the controls of Project Connaughton, Henderson could still see his target on the small viewscreen. It had happened really fast so he wasn't sure what was going on, but in the mind of Henderson, he had missed. "God damn it!" he hissed. He wouldn't be able to target them again from the position the weapon was in and he pulled back on the control columns, Project Connaughton rising back into the sky once again. On the ground, there was no time to lose. Almost as soon as he had realized what exactly had happened, Gumushan had spotted the car and then spotted the Serb mobster in the driver's seat. Perfect timing, he thought, as he got the vehicle back into gear and raced off down the road – Belcheck following, before noticing the weapon racing back into the sky. They had to shake Henderson off at all costs.

As the Serb moved quickly to catch up with the ambulance, the weapon turned sharply to the left and spun fully around until the sphere underneath the main body was directly in line with Henderson's target. "Let's try that again.." he said to himself as he pushed down on the control columns, the weapon picking up speed as it descended once again. On the road, despite the damage to the car, Belcheck was able to draw level with the ambulance and exchanged as close a look as he could with Gumushan. He took a deep breath and shook his head at what he was about to do. He knew it was practically suicide but the plan involved getting the weapon really close to the ground. He unbuckled his seatbelt, lined up the car with the ambulance and jumped onto the passenger-door, grabbing a hold of the wing-view mirror and then the door handle. Gumushan could only watch in disbelief but had no time to say or do anything as a voice came from the back of the ambulance. "What the hell is that thing?!" Al the paramedic roared in a combination of confusion and shock on top of the headache was experiencing. Belcheck ramming the car into the ambulance had managed to bring him out of his unconscious state and upon spotting his colleague in the back and the Turkish-Cyprian man who claimed to be Heather's guardian driving, his first instinct had been to open the doors at the back of the vehicle.

The first thing he had seen? A massive winged weapon descending towards them, ready to fire at the ambulance. Upon hearing the paramedic cry out, Gumushan knew almost straight away that the weapon was chasing them. "CLOSE THE DOORS! HANG ON BACK THERE!" he shouted as he grabbed the clutch and moved into a higher gear, before looking out at the road and turning sharply to the right. The ambulance moved onto another road,with the signal on the controls for the super-weapon picking this up. "No worry, I'll just scare them into stopping" Henderson said as he gently guided the control columns to the right – before pressing down on the blue button. On Project Connaughton, the panel positioned over the anti-tank missiles on the right-hand wing once again opened up. Within mere seconds, one of the remaining missiles was launched

In the car park for Guardstrom HQ, meanwhile, two Marines were scouting the area immediately surrounding the remains of the front building. Arnold turned towards the rest of the group and signalled them forward. But it was as Jack was passing the car that Arnold was positioned against that the explosion could be heard. He immediately paused and turned around, horror settling in as he could see the rising smoke in the distance. Only one thing could have had the fire-power to do that. The same reaction and feeling of horror was felt in the Oval Office, as Chloe could only look out of the window at the rising smoke. The Acting President rushed into the room and the former analyst turned to look at him, the blood slowly draining from her face. She had seen what was undoubtedly the cause of the explosion, as she had just made out a large black winged vehicle race into the sky. "What do you want us to do, sir?" she asked. As it was, however, nothing could really be done. The two secure points for the White House were inoperable and pretty much every point of the city was at risk of attack. Beyond hoping that Jack and Belcheck were able to do what they needed to do, that wasn't much that could be done. The fate of the nation was once again in the hands of Jack Bauer.

At the impact site, meanwhile, the entire scene was one of chaos. Cars were on their side or even upside down, with some on fire, and a massive hole in the road had been blown – revealing the underground tunnels linking back to Guardstrom Headquarters. As for the buildings on the side of the road, one had been completely destroyed and another had a massive hole at the front of it, like as if something had smashed into it. As Chloe had spotted, the super-weapon was flying away from the site of the explosion. From what Henderson had seen through the scanner on the controls that linked to the sphere on the underneath of Project Connaughton, his target had been eliminated and he saw no further reason to keep it on manual control. As such, it was returning to its pre-programmed orders of patrolling the city from the skies.

But as the super-weapon rose steadily into the sky, a figure slowly climbed his way up the left-hand wing and towards the main body. Against all odds and perhaps by a stroke of complete and utter luck, Belcheck's kamikaze and suicidal plan had worked. He had evaded detection and had made his way onto the weapon. He wasn't quite sure how it had happened but clearly a combination of the weapon getting low enough to the ground and then bizarrely the explosion from the missile impacting the ground had given him enough kinetic energy to get a hand on the weapon. But with the distraction of trying to ensure he didn't lose his grip, he was unable to see what had happened to Gumushan and Heather and the paramedics onboard the ambulance. But until he managed to find a way inside, he wouldn't be able to find out if they were alive or not.

Not that far away, meanwhile, the missile from the Yuri Dolgorukiy rocketed through the skies towards its target. But unlike the other missiles fired from the downed submarine, it was completely ignoring DC altogether – the other missiles had flown over the centre of Delaware to reach the capital city whereas this one was overflying that of Ocean City and heading upwards.

–

10:18:57AM

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

The familiar scene of a waiting bay greeted General Benediktov as he finally made his way into the complex proper. This had ironically been the last place he had been in on his last short visit to the headquarters, which at least gave him an idea of where he was going. He just had to plot his route into the main building backwards and go from there. As he climbed out of the car, he grabbed the briefcase of launchers and grimly looked at the already-active launcher. It appeared to be closing on its target. "45 seconds.." he said to himself as he peered over at the open doors into the hallways. He finally shook his head, inexplicably opting to make his way back into the car instead.

Several levels above him, Jack had finally made it himself into the remains of the front building. Much to his surprise, the tunnel leading into the lower levels had been left open for all eyes to see and whilst the former agent had concerns that it was a trap, he knew there was no faster way into the lower levels. Boyle had already done a very quick sweep of the dark route downwards and concluded it to be overall safe – as such, Jack was already in the midst of making his way through the tunnel with the Marines joining him one by one. He quickly stopped and peered back up at the men accompanying him. "I recommend you get your weapons ready. You don't know who or what is going to greet us" he ordered, pulling out his own gun and quickly making sure that it was loaded. Some of the Marines understood his reasoning and did as they were asked, but others were just a little more sceptical – they instead looked up towards Boyle, who nodded. "He's right. Do what he says" he insisted, pulling out his own gun. At that, the sceptical Marines followed suit, some of them even checking to make sure the guns had enough bullets.

On the surface and next to the entry-point to the tunnel, there was one last Marine on guard. He had been ordered to remain next to the entry-point and report any suspicious activity that he saw. As such, he was standing on a big pile of rubble and holding a pair of binoculars in his left hand and his portable radio in the other hand. He grimly scanned the car park before him. In the sky and above the clouds meanwhile, the missile was racing towards its unknown target – until finally, the clouds broke and it began to descent. Towards the remains of Guardstrom Headquarters. To the Marine on guard, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary but all of a sudden, he could hear something. Something that sounded like it was coming closer and closer to the building remains. He rushed out and turned on his heel, looking up.

This proved to be his last action before impact point, as just seconds later, he saw a missile slam into the building and explode spectacularly. The Marine was knocked off of his feet by the shock-waves of the explosion, as the building effectively collapsed in on itself. The unstable structure finally gave way and collapsed onto the ground slowly. Inside the tunnel, the explosion happened so quickly that Jack practically froze and could only turn around just in time to see a massive fireball smashing into the tunnel and enveloping Boyle. "MOVE!" he shouted as he raced down the steps, the rest of the Marines following suit. But the fireball moved even quicker, making its way through up to 10 Marines and closing in on the former agent. Jack smashed himself against the door and felt the door come off its hinges and slide along the floor of the corridor, closing his eyes as chaos ignited all around him. The fireball smashed against the door-frame and slowly dissipated, leaving a long trail of burnt, dead Marines on the steps of the tunnel.

But by now, the whole weight of the remains of the front building had come crashing down on itself. The weakened structure ultimately gave way and the tunnel collapsed in on itself, with the underground levels surrounding the tunnel also collapsing. Jack couldn't see anything as he had closed his eyes in wait of the mayhem coming to a stop, but he could hear all sorts of destruction – rubble crashing to the floor and metal giving way against the strain of wreckage. By the time the dust had settled, the tunnel was essentially just a big long stretch of rubble whilst walls had been collapsed and other bits of twisted metal and rubble lay around parts of the underground level looking over the laboratories. On the surface, the surviving Marine slowly got to his feet and looked towards the remains of the front building. Or rather, what WAS the remains of the front building. Apart from a few bits of wall standing on the far-left, the far-right and the very back, there was nothing. Not even piles of rubble. The Marine quickly realized that that was because the rubble had collapsed in on itself and was now below ground-level. But what was it?

An attempt to kill Jack or an attempt to spook Henderson should he be inside? He grabbed his radio. "Sir, this is Banks. Please respond!" he spoke into it. Nothing, not even static. "SIR!" he yelled. Again, nothing. "Oh god.. oh god oh god.." Banks said, panic setting in. He looked back towards what he could of the city and retuned the radio. "This is Marine Operative Kevin Banks calling the White House! Come in, Mr President!" he said, trying to sound professional.

On the very bottom of the building, meanwhile, Benediktov looked up from his bracing position and peered around him. The area was largely intact. He looked at the launcher and noticed that the pre-programmed co-ordinates had now disappeared. The missile had hit its target. "Good.. right then. I don't know where exactly you are, Henderson, but I know you're in here – and when I find you, you are going to regret EVER crossing Andre Benediktov!" he snarled to himself as he grabbed the briefcase and made his way towards the open doors leading into the complex underground. Speaking of Henderson, almost as soon as he had heard the explosion, he had put the controls close to his chest and dived for cover. The seconds ticked by when suddenly, there was a loud smash not too far from him. He looked up and followed the sound of the smash, his heart stopping as he saw the remains of the platform on the laboratory floor. Shortly after taking out the ambulance where the attempted main-frame hack had been traced to, he had ordered his captives to move off the platform and head down another level into the laboratories. This proved to be an order that saved his life and that of Stephen and Teri.

Henderson uneasily got to his feet and peered around him, looking at his captives. He had absolutely no idea as to what that massive explosion was but it must have been powerful, considering that it managed to destroy a platform several metres below ground-level. "Are you both ok?" he asked his captives. Stephen rose an eyebrow but nodded. "Right, that's good at least. But I'm gonna need you both as lookouts. I have a sneaking suspicion someone may be out to get me.." Henderson remarked. Stephen looked at him with a face of incredulity, but it was Teri who spoke up. "After you? You're trying to lure my grandpa into a trap and you're in control of some ridiculous weapon but somehow someone's after YOU?" she remarked. Stephen resisted the urge to smile, he could see a lot of Kim's temperament within Teri. "That is correct. Far-fetched it may be, but it is correct. One thing you need to remember, young lady, is that there is never only one villain in any given situation. Sometimes, there may be more than just one person trying to destroy your way of live" Henderson explained, except even he didn't sound too confident as he said it. He sounded distracted – not even bothering to look at the girl before him – and very much on edge. Everything that was happening against Jeremy Henderson and not working in his favour was starting to get to him.

–

 **White House**

"What do you mean, IT'S GONE? A building doesn't just disappear, Banks!" Chloe snapped into her phone, as she paced the Oval Office. Novick was watching her. " _Believe me, O'Brien, I know it sounds ridiculous but_ IT'S TRUE! I am standing in front of what was Guardstrom HQ and believe me, THERE IS NOTHING THERE NOW!" Banks snapped back, pointing at the remains of the complex even though there was no-one else to show the remains to.

" _Alright, alright – son, this is the President. Suppose something did happen. Do you have any idea what_ caused the complex to disappear?" Novick stepped in, noticing that Chloe was showing signs of losing her patience. " _..YES! Yes, actually. There is. About a split-second before it all happened, I saw_ something coming down from the sky. It looked like a missile but it wasn't like anything I've seen" the Marine said, trying to recap what he had witnessed take place. Chloe frowned. There was only one logical explanation, but it meant one thing. "If it's a missile, sir, then chances are it's Benediktov. But there's been no reported signing of him since he went to Jack to Baltimore.." she pointed out as she lowered the phone and covered it with her hand. "Well, we'll have to assume it was him, Chloe. Who else really has access to missiles and the means to actually launch them?" the Acting President pointed out. They couldn't prove it was actually the Russian General, but then again who else could it be? And come to think of it, Benediktov had no real reason to attack Guardstrom HQ beyond looking for Henderson so that could only mean that Henderson was indeed within what remained of the complex.

Novick took the phone from Chloe's hand. "Banks, do you think you'd be able to make your way underground?" he asked. Needless to say, the request was met with incredulity by the Marine. " _How, sir? The front of the building has collapsed in on itself, there's no way inside!_ " he pointed out. "Actually there is – _I'll order the helicopter to come retrieve you, there is another way inside and you need to take it_ " the Acting President ordered. Banks was stumped at what he heard; another way inside the complex? He had no idea how there would be another way inside, but if the Acting President said there was, chances are he was right. "Yes, sir. I'll give you an update in about 20 minutes" Banks said before hanging up. In the Oval Office, Chloe was about to try and say something to Novick – but was interrupted before she had the chance, by the arrival of an older Secret Service agent. "Sir.. I just got contacted by one of the checkpoints within the city. They've just picked up a young man who claims he was kidnapped by General Benediktov" he explained, albeit a little uneasily and somewhat unconvinced.

The mention of the Russian got the attention of both Chloe and the Acting President. "Who?" Novick asked. "Someone called Ed Plowright. He's happy to debrief you, but you'll need to come with me" the agent said. The Acting President didn't need to be told twice and he quickly followed the agent, Chloe following suite.

Outside the White House, meanwhile, another agent was standing next to the security patrol point at the end of the stony road. He was very much on edge considering what had been going on and the fact that he hadn't slept in nearly 3 days. His state of mind was telling him to treat anyone he hadn't seen before as a threat and from the corner of his eye, he could see a car that he hadn't seen before today approaching the front gate. Paranoia taking over, he grabbed his gun and forced his way of the security point. "TAKES YOUR HANDS OFF THE STEERING WHEEL!" he roared at the top of his voice as he appeared in front of the vehicle. The driver immediately did as he had been asked, as the agent made his way towards the car. "Hands on the car, spread your legs out!" he ordered once again, his paranoia shining through as he made his way to the back of the older man doing as he had been ordered. "Driver's licence?" he snapped angrily, pointing his gun at the back of the older man.

"Farage? What the fu*king hell are you doing?!" another agent suddenly yelled as he ran up towards the security point. The agent named Farage looked at him. "What do you think I'm doing? I'm not just about to let someone into the White House, not at this point! He could be working for Benediktov or Henderson!" he snapped back. The second agent looked at him like he had completely gone off the rails. "Just look at who you have at gunpoint, you blithering idiot! He's not a threat" he yelled angrily. Scoffing, Agent Farage turned the man he had at gunpoint around – only to immediately go white and recoil in shock. The man who he had held at gunpoint was no threat to anyone. It was Aaron Pierce. "Oh go... Mr Pierce, I am so sorry, sir. I had no idea.." he said, immediately scared. How could he have been so stupid?

But to his relief, Pierce wasn't angry. "When was the last time you said any sleep, Agent Farage?" he asked calmly and kindly. "Not.. not since the first reports of an attempt made against the President in London were reported" Farage confessed. "I see.. go get some sleep, that's an order" the older man ordered. Whilst he was no longer technically an agent, he still had a credible reputation amongst many Secret Service agents and many of them would still make sure that they followed his orders to the letter. Farage looked at his partner, who nodded. "Yes sir" he agreed and immediately walked off towards the White House. As for his partner, he walked up towards Pierce. "Agent Pierce, we've been looking for you! What's been going on?" he asked, crossing his arms. "I apologize, son. I got a bit distracted on the outskirts of the city; tell me, is there a Kim Wesley currently here?" the veteran replied. The younger agent rose an eyebrow. "Yes, she is. Why do you ask?" he inquired.

Pierce said nothing, instead motioning towards the back of the car. The younger agent, whilst a little confused, walked towards the car and towards the left-hand side. To his shock, he could feel a sleeping toddler. "Mrs Wesley's young son. The only person I was able to escape with when we were ambushed" Pierce explained. The younger agent looked at the veteran. "Then.. where's her husband and daughter?" he asked. Pierce looked at him. "I have no idea. Mr Wesley told me to take Patrick and run; he was injured so he stayed behind with Teri" he said. The fog within the younger agent's mind began to left as he took in the veteran agent's words. And then it hit him. It meant only one thing; Mr Wesley had lied, either intentionally or under some kind of threat. "Come on!" he yelled as he raced back towards the White House. Whichever way anyone looked at it, Pierce's words had thrown everything out of the window. If Mr Wesley had been too injured to move and Henderson had found him, then Jack was quite possibly being led into a trap.

–

On the road that had been attacked by Project Connaughton in its pursuit of the ambulance, there was little in ways of activity. But within the building that had had a massive hole blown in it, there was actually activity taking place. The ambulance was remarkably still in one piece, on its side within the wreckage. And on the inside, all four people were still alive – although seriously injured. Heather had a cut to the head and what appeared to be a broken foot, whilst Gumushan looked like he had been in a massive punch-up and lost. As for the paramedics, Al had a broken arm whilst his colleague had whiplash and concussion.

Heather was not letting her injuries affect her, however, as she was still rapidly working on hacking into the weapon main-frame. "Oh yes... oh you stupid idiot, you really shouldn't have done that!" she suddenly remarked. Gumushan, who was in the midst of being helped into the back of the ambulance by Al, looked up. "What is it?" he asked. "Clearly Henderson thinks we're dead – because the weapon is no longer under manual control. As soon as I'm into the main-frame properly, we'll be able to control the weapon however we please!" the teenage Walkman revealed. Only the paramedics were absolutely confused. "Alright, does someone want to tell either one of us just the hell is going on? What is with all this talk of super-weapons and main-frame hacking and everything?" Al demanded to know.

Heather peered at the Turkish-Cyprian. "You tell them, I've got this to do.." she wheezed before returning to the hacking operation before her. She needed to focus and get the hack complete before Henderson potentially realized that she was in fact still alive and fighting to undo all of his hard work.

–

10:26:28AM

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

The first thing that Jack felt as he came to was bits of twisted metal on top of him and pieces of rubble all around him. As he lifted the metal up, he looked up at where the tunnel had previously stood.

To his horror, that tunnel was no longer there. In its place was simply just a massive pile of rubble and twisted metal. He looked along both sides of the corridor, shock setting in as he saw rubble and metal lying everywhere. He looked up at the ceiling, immediately noticing that there were cracks appearing all over the place. And they were getting bigger. Getting to his feet, the former agent spotted what appeared to be some kind of collapsed platform overlooking something. He instinctively went in that direction and managed to time it pretty well, as the ceiling over where he had woken up suddenly caved in. Jack could only watch as rubble smashed onto the floor – what the hell had happened that could have led to this? Ok, it had been said that the building and the tunnel to a lesser extent were not exactly as stable as he had hoped they would be, but there hadn't been any evidence to support the remains of the building suddenly collapsing in on itself or neither he or the Marines would have even set foot in the tunnel!

Whatever it was that had caused this, it must have been pretty big! Peering around the remains of the corridor, Jack then spotted a flight of stairs going downwards. Whilst a little suspicious of what could be at the bottom of the stairs, the former agent was not too keen on the thought of staying in a corridor where the ceiling could collapse at any given moment. As a result, he quickly made sure he still had his gun and made his way quietly down the stairs. The seconds ticking by felt like minutes as he made his way to the bottom – and found himself in what appeared to be some kind of laboratory. Holding his gun close to his body, Jack started to love around his new surroundings as he spotted what looked like the remains of the collapsed platform just ahead of him.

"Grandpa!" a voice cried out and Jack immediately pointed his gun in the direction of where the voice had come from. His face was a picture of shock and confusion as he saw his son-in-law and grand-daughter reluctantly step out of the shadows. "Stephen.. Teri?! I don't.. what the hell are you doing here?" he finally spluttered. "I'm sorry, Jack.. we had no choice" Stephen replied sadly, unable to look his father-in-law in the eye. The former agent turned his head, curious as to why Stephen was suddenly apologetic. "What do you mean, no choice?" he asked. "It means exactly what he said!" a voice declared and Jack turned around just in time for someone to completely smash their first into his face, sending him flying backwards. "Boy.. that actually felt good. And it worked!" Henderson remarked as he touched the fist he used to punch Jack's lights out with his other hand, scoffing at what he'd done.

–

 **DC City Centre**

Within the remains of the ambulance crash site, Gumushan was able to force open the back doors to the ambulance. He looked back at the two paramedics, who couldn't believe the story they had been told. "So let me get this straight – the pair of you are working with Jack Bauer who strictly speaking shouldn't even be in this country and the White House to stop a potential war between some washed up Russian General and a guy who you think is controlling whatever that winged monstrosity was?" the unnamed paramedic said. "Pretty much that, Brian – and before you ask, Jack Bauer is entitled to come into the country. President Heller officially pardoned him for what he did" Heather addressed, again not even bothering to look up from her hacking job. Brian proceeded to look at Gumushan, clearly realizing that trying to extract any further information from the teenager was not going to work.

"Ok, but why and how did you two get involved? Strictly speaking, I doubt the White House would pick a teenager and some random Turkish-Cyprian to fight off terrorists" he asked dryly, actually making a bit of a valid point about why two people seemingly ill-equipped to fight such a terrorist threat were fighting that threat. "Well, I'll admit you do have a point on that. I'm afraid we can't really reveal too much at this stage, but what I can tell you is that.. well, I was investigating someone who turned out to be related to one of the terrorists" Gumushan replied, managing to stay calm under the pressure of the questioning. "Uh-uh. I see. And the girl?" Al said, turning towards Heather. "I got involved because of some shady business dealings my mother managed to get herself drawn into. Now if you two are done playing 20 Questions, can you please shut up? Having to endure your endless questioning is getting on my nerves!" the teenager replied, very much dead-pan and not even bothering to look up once from her work.

But then at that point, Gumushan's phone started to ring. Heather finally looked up and glared at the Turkish-Cyprian. "Alright, alright.. I'm answering" he insisted as he grabbed the phone and opened it up. "This is Gumushan" he said, speaking into the phone. But as the seconds ticked by and he heard the caller's voice, he froze. "Wha.. how are you.. how did you?" he spluttered slowly. He knew who it was but he couldn't understand how this person was talking to him. Having heard Gumushan speak in the uncertain manner that he had done, Heather looked up. "Alright, yeah.. um, it's for you Heather.." the Turkish-Cyprian said as he handed the teenage Walkman the phone. "Hello?" she asked, curious as to who it was that had left Gumushan lost for words. And as it was, the caller left Heather herself lost for words. "I don't.. how can it be you?" she asked slowly. Brian and Al exchanged a confused look. A strange morning had just gotten even more confusing. "Alright, yeah.. I'll do that. Just stay on the line" she added as she set back to work, hacking into the main-frame.

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

For the second time in less than ten minutes, Jack found himself coming to – only this time, he wasn't actually able to move his arms. He could feel them behind his back but he instantly knew that they had been tied together. Presumably by whoever he was that had punched him in the face. As he opened his eyes, he could see Stephen and Teri sitting on two chairs underneath a large window frame. He was about to again ask them what the hell was going on, when he could sense someone starting over him. "I'll tell you this now, Jack. I think I preferred the photos my dad kept of you in his office; you looked good back then than you do now" he heard that person joke and he slowly rolled his body over onto his back until he looked up at the person. He knew immediately who it was. Jeremy Henderson.

Henderson proceeded to turn on his heel and walk away, conveniently ignoring the glare Jack was giving him. Sighing, he smiled as he turned back around. "I never thought I'd see this day.. the day I got to meet Jack Bauer! The hidden hero America didn't know it needed and a master-man in counter-terrorism.. oh and the killer of my father!" he continued, suddenly turning angry as he finished. Jack used his tied up hands to push his upper body up from the floor. "Well, it seems to me that you're sticking your head in the sand! Your father was a traitor and a terrorist.." Jack retorted. "Oh please, DO NOT give me that warped attitude. You are much smarter than that, Jack; DO NOT take the Fox News approach, snap out of it! You know damn well my father was a patriot!" Henderson snarled, really getting angry. Jack nearly snorted. "A patriot? Funny, I don't remember many patriots actually being complicit in the murder of innocent Americans and sanctioning the murder of a former President!" the former agent snapped back. Henderson slammed his hands on top of the briefcase carrying the controls to Project Connaughton.

An unsettling silence fell as he composed himself. He'd gotten to this stage, he didn't want to lose control of a situation where he had the upper hand. "You would say that, Jack.. but all that is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. I could go on all day at the amount of people who screwed my father, a great man, over but I won't because that.. well that would be far too easy. I'm gonna let my actions speak for themselves" he finally said, securing the controls to his body as he spoke. Finally, he turned around, hands on the control columns even though he knew the super-weapon was in Artificial Intelligence mode. Jack scoffed. "So I was right all along.. you do have the controls. But really, what is this going to achieve? I'm the one you're clearly after so why do you need a weapon of near-mass destruction? You've got me, just shoot me" he pointed out. Teri looked at her father in worry at some of Jack's words, but Stephen reassuringly hugged her.

"Oh, Jack... oh dear Jack. Sometimes I think you need to realize it's not always about you. Yes I am angry at you for killing my father and everything that you did to ruin his life – especially after everything he did for you – but you're actually only one part of the plan. It's the government I'm after, always has been ever since I first made contact with one Andre Benediktov" Henderson said. Jack almost double-taked at the mention of the Russian General and it was his face that sent Henderson's eyes wide as he realized what was going on. "Oh, Jack! Didn't you know? I thought your analyst – who was it, Chloe O'Brien – knew everything! Clearly not.. alright, I guess you deserve to know that as well" he conceded.

"About five years ago, I was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. Charges that weren't really proven but the judge wouldn't hear anything of an appeal so I was left to rot. And six months ago, I was contacted via phone by someone calling himself Benediktov of the Allied Forces of Europe. He'd done some research into me and wanted to know if I was willing to take part in a big revenge plot against America. Frankly, I was a bit amazed that not only had I been contacted about it but that the prison staff weren't tapping the call because otherwise I would have had the privileges I'd built up gone with a click of the fingers. But I said yes to it, not gonna pass up the chance for revenge on a country that had screwed my father and I over repeatedly! But then only a few weeks later, I got some inside information that this underground contractor called Guardstrom was in the process of developing a super-weapon. I didn't tell anyone of course, but the gears in my head began to form a plan. I was going to take advantage of the General's very lovely offer and essentially shove it back in his face! It took time, but I was able to form some trustworthy contacts on the outside who would help me with my plan. I trust you may have met Cannavale before his slightly untimely death?" he proceeded to explain at length, pausing to let Jack understand what had been said so far – and then spotting the former agent's eyebrows go up in shock at the mention of Cannavale.

"Anyhow, everything was set in motion from the moment Benediktov left to hijack that submarine at the very south of Greenland. Everything from that exact event has been planned pretty much to precision – all so that you could be witness to my ultimate vengeance against what was and what never will be a great country" Henderson finally finished, noticing what seemed to be a flurry of emotions on Jack's face. "What is it, Jack? Everything a bit too complicated to take in?" he nearly mocked. Instead, Jack gave no answer and his emotions appeared to give way to pent up anger. "You're telling me.. you knew everything was going to happen and you DIDN'T TRY TO STOP IT?" he slowly snarled, the anger building up. "Well, maybe a few things had to be changed because you often failed to follow the script but otherwise, yes. Everything was pre-planned to build up to this moment" Henderson nearly teased but that proved to be a mistake as Jack's anger promptly exploded with the force of a volcano.

"YOU... YOU ARE JUST LIKE YOUR GOD-FU*KING FATHER, YOU BASTARD! YOU COULD HAVE EASILY LET ME BE FLOWN TO RUSSIA, GET YOURSELF INSIDE THE COUNTRY AND TAKE YOUR REVENGE INSIDE ONE OF THE GULAGS! BUT NO.. YOU ARE EFFECTIVELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MURDER OF COUNTLESS PEOPLE! YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATHS OF EUROPEAN SOLDIERS, COUNTLESS AMERICAN SERVICEMAN AND WOMEN AS WELL OF MEMBERS OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENCY! YOU, SIR, ARE A TRAITOR TO YOUR PEOPLE!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and far beyond, even forcing Henderson to slightly cover his ears. As he watched the anger of the former agent fade away, he shook his head at the agent standing before him – within all the yelling, he had managed to scramble onto his feet. "You can think that all you like, Jack. But here's the thing – I'm not the traitor here, Guardstrom is. I'm not the terrorist, the Allied Forces of Europe are. You must have heard all the worldwide denouncements of the group. Even Russia wants nothing to do with them and that's saying something! By doing what I am doing, I'm helping America wake up as to who the real terrorists are and by letting this next attack take place, they'll realize the truth. America will split itself down the middle and civil war will undoubtedly spark, whilst the real enemies on the other side of the world will see this happening and make their move. I'm not the traitor here, Jack. Believe me, I am just the middle man in all this" he said soothingly.

Jack looked at him like he was almost insane but said nothing. Henderson had clearly lost it, so trapped in his beliefs that he was willing to see America self-destruct just for the sake of revenge. This guy was quite possibly one of the worst characters he had ever come face to face to – he had even managed to outdo Cheng Zhi and his diabolical plot to plunge America and China into war! But it was also clear that he held all the cards at the present moment. What could he do? It was more than likely that any attempt by himself to stop the weapon from whatever Henderson wanted it to do would likely result in the death of either one of Stephen or Teri. Why else would they be here beyond Henderson using them to lure the former agent into the trap he was currently in? He could only watch Henderson as he used the controls to plot in what appeared to be co-ordinates. But what were they for? He dreaded to think.

In another part of the underground complex, meanwhile, Benediktov kicked open a closed door and peered inside. All the room was just a number of chairs and tables. No immediate signs that Henderson was in there. "Where could he be?" the Russian said quietly as he shook his head. He knew that checking behind every door was just going to waste a lot of time he couldn't afford to waste, but Henderson was a cunning bastard. He had managed to pull the wool over his eyes before and what were the chances that he was doing it again by likely hiding in an obvious location, expecting the General to go right past him? He made his way back into the corridor and moved onto the next door, only to then realize on that the door had a name-plate - "Underground CCTV Footage". Benediktov quickly realized that the room before him was essentially his shortcut to finding Henderson. He immediately moved to open the door, only to find it locked. He tried again and again, nothing.

He frowned, shaking his head. He needed to get inside. He got himself into position and launched a massive kick at the door. It took another kick and another kick, but finally the door broke down. He looked inside, making sure there wasn't anyone else waiting to ambush him – and it appeared there was not. He walked inside fully and immediately spotted the series of security monitors on the right-hand side of the small room. He scanned the monitors meticulously, surprised that they were still intact this many hours after the attack he had launched alongside Cannavale. But finally, he found who he was looking for. On the monitors, he could see Henderson; but it was then that he also spotted Jack Bauer just a few metres away from Henderson, his hands tied behind his back. So he is still alive, but what the hell could have happened that had led to him being a prisoner of Henderson?

He now knew where to go, he thought to himself as he left the small room – and by the time he was finished, Jeremy Henderson was going to regret the day they ever crossed paths.

–

10:31:56AM

 **DC City Centre**

Back within the ambulance, Heather was still typing away – Gumushan now holding the phone next to her eye so that she had both hands available. But then all of a sudden, she just stopped. She looked up in shock. "I.. I've done it. I'm in the main-frame! I've gotten access to the weapon!" she finally spluttered in delight. She was fully expecting the hack attempt to last a lot longer than it had done, but she had managed to get into the main-frame for the super-weapon. In other words, she now had control of the weapon created by her mother and stolen by Henderson. Unless Henderson took manual control, she could now control the winged monstrosity.

"Give me the phone!" she ordered Gumushan, ignoring the looks she was getting from the two paramedics. The Turkish-Cyprian handed her the phone. "Ok, good news – I've hacked my way in. We are now in control of the weapon..." she started, somewhat happy for the first time in many hour, but then her smile turned into shock as the person she was talking to on the phone replied. Gumushan noticed. "What is it?" he asked, concerned. "It's.. it's the weapon. Henderson's just programmed it to attack the White House!" she revealed. Al and Brian's reaction to this revelation said it all, as the Turkish-Cyprian looked at Heather with an expression that told her "explain". "That's just it – Henderson's about to attack the White House! I wouldn't be as worried because we have control over the weapon, but what we're doing.. it's gonna take a couple of minutes for Henderson to be locked out completely. Henderson could very well be able to launch his attack before he's locked out" the teenager revealed.

Gumushan shook his head in disbelief; even after they had done what they had worked to do, there was still a chance that Henderson could destroy his intended target? "We just have to hope it doesn't happen straight away.. that Henderson is distracted long enough.." Heather said, a mixture of fear and worry in her voice.

–

 **White House**

For the Acting President, the last few minutes had been nothing more than a complete blur. He had been briefed by Ed Plowright about what had happened and had firm reason to believe that Benediktov was by now within the remains of Guardstrom HQ – and then barely seconds after speaking with the young man and assuring him he would not face charges of treason, he had gotten a call from near the security point at the front of the White House. To hear that there was an unexpected visitor during the entire crisis was one thing, but to then learn that that visitor was Agent Aaron Pierce was another entirely. And coupled with the fact that he had an alternate account of what happened with the ambush, the alarm bells had been triggered in the minds of both Novick and Chloe. What if Jack had been led into a trap?

Wasting no time, both the Acting President and the former analyst were heading towards the Oval Office. "Any word from Jack?" Novick asked one of the agents, who could only shake his head. "We've tried the phone he had numerous times, but no joy so far. Either the power's been knocked out or something's happened to him, we just have no idea" he admitted. Chloe's heart sank as coupled with what the Marine Banks had told her a few minutes before speaking with Ed Plowright, it likely meant that something had happened to Jack. He always came through, always, but something in her heart was telling her "not this time". Finally, the trio reached the Oval Office. "Agent Pierce is inside, along with Ms Wesley" the agent explained before opening the double doors. Chloe was surprised to hear Kim's name mentioned but when she looked inside, all her questions were answered. There, on one of the sofas in the Office, was Kim hugging a young boy with all her might. Even though Chloe had never seen the boy before, she knew who it was. Kim's son.

Pierce looked up as the doors opened and immediately saw the Acting President. "Mr President!" he started as Novick walked in, heading towards the man he had known and trusted for many years. "It's good to see you, Aaron – no other person I'd rather be talking to" Novick said and admitted as he held his hand out, relieved to see the veteran agent standing before him. The two shook hands. "You remember Chloe O'Brien?" the Acting President added as Chloe walked up. "I do.." Pierce remarked as he shook her hand as well. "Sorry to intrude, but a quick question – is that..?" she asked, keeping her voice to just above a whisper so that the older men could hear but Kim couldn't. "Yes, that's Ms Wesley's son. Mr Wesley ordered me to take him with me when we were trying to escape.." the veteran agent explained, keeping it simple and confirming what Chloe already thought. "Yeah, I need to ask about that. You said that Kim's husband ordered you to get to the city centre by yourself because he was injured but yet we had Stephen tell us over the radio that he was fine and just hiding.." Novick started.

But it was at that moment that Chloe spotted something. Beyond the sofas, she could see an open laptop sitting on a table – but that wasn't what had attracted her attention, it was to do with what was on the laptop screen to begin with. She walked slowly towards it and analysed what she saw on -screen. It appeared to be an electronic overview map of the city centre, distinguished by the fact that in the middle of the screen, where the White House should be, was a large red pinging signal. She wasn't quite sure why she had been attracted to something as mundane as this, but it didn't matter at this moment; mainly because just seconds later, a large orange signal appeared on the screen. And it appeared to be edging closer to the red signal, aka the White House. Chloe was a bit puzzled to say the least and she quickly got on her knees, checking the screen more closely. The orange signal was getting closer and closer and all the while increasing in size. Like as if something was closing in on the White House at an alarming rate.

Suspicious, the former analyst pulled her phone out of her pocket – but before she could even open it, it began to ring. "O'Brien" she spoke into it, snapping it open before it had even finished its first ring. " _Oh thank god, Chloe! We may have a big problem!_ " Jimmy O'Franklin from Radar Control, who had helped Jack locate the Yuri Dolgorukiy nearly six hours ago, cried into the phone. "Jimmy? Calm down. What's the matter?" Chloe insisted, realizing something was amiss but not wanting to get worked up too quickly. " _It's BAD, Chloe! No other way of putting it!_ I was checking the satellites over the city centre and they picked up something huge coming our way and descending at the same time – I reckon it'll be above us in around a minute or so!" O'Franklin explained, as he rushed from one desk to the next in another part of the White House building. " _WHAT'S coming our way?_ " Chloe snapped, trying to bring the radar operative away from his panicking. "You'll laugh at this... it's this massive winged aircraft! I've _never seen anything like it before, it's like one of our Navy fighter jets crossed with a Klingon Bird of Prey!_ " O'Franklin finally replied.

But Chloe was no longer listening. When she had yelled at the operative to explain to her what was heading for the White House in the midst of a descent, she had attracted the attention of Novick. As the former analyst lowered her phone, horrified by O'Franklin's explanation of what he had seen through the satellites. True, he could not have used fandom description to sum up what he'd seen, but it essentially meant only one possibility. The weapon. Novick put his hand on Chloe's shoulder, making her flinch as she turned around. Kim looked at her, clearly concerned for the friend of her father. Chloe very rarely acted like this. "It's coming... no matter what we do, we're dead.." she said slowly. She was the most scared she had ever been in her life. Project Connaughton was racing towards the White House and most likely, ready to attack it.

–

 **Guardstrom Laboratories**

Whilst Henderson could have easily followed the flight-path of Project Connaughton as it raced towards its target, he decided that was too easy a thing to do. He wanted to show his three captives just what he was about to do. "And... hey presto! We have lift-off" he joked as a screen came to life behind Stephen and Teri. The two of them, coupled with Jack, watched as the visuals came into effect. What they were seeing was actual live footage from the spinning sphere underneath the main body of the super-weapon, only all they could see at the minute were the clouds.

Jack looked up at Henderson. "Please... don't do this. You have what you want, JUST END THIS!" he practically pleaded. Henderson could only scoff. "If this is what you consider to be your last ditch attempt to convince me otherwise, Jack, then you really need to rethink your priorities. Yelling didn't work, why should gentle begging and pleading?" he smugly retorted without even looking up from the controls. He did have a point, the former agent said to himself mentally, but that didn't mean he couldn't just stop trying to convince him to stop all this. "Look.. Jeremy, you've made your point. You want vengeance against those who you believe have wronged you. You've done enough damage to the government and you're complicit in the deaths of innocent Americans – just kill me and end it there!" the former agent then responded. He knew that the younger Henderson was probably even more evil than his father, but surely somewhere in his cold body, he had something resembling a heart. "Wrong again, Jack. This is only the beginning of the end. It's time to take my revenge to the next level, it's time the real criminals paid for what they have done.. and one other thing. I would have thought you'd be happy at my "damage" to the government. After all, wasn't it the Chief of Staff to that bastard Heller, who started the chain of events resulting in the death of your beloved Audrey?"

Jack was wrong. Henderson did not have something or anything resembling a heart inside his body, as proven by his twisting of the knife comment about Audrey. Before the former agent could respond in anger, however, Henderson moved back towards the live feed from the super-weapon. "AH! Here we go! The next stage is in sight, Jack! Watch and witness the overdue destruction.. of America!" he openly declared as the super-weapon emerged from the skies and descended rapidly towards its target. The White House. Jack's heart froze and his blood drained away once again as he saw the intended target. Henderson was pretty much going for it. The crowning moment of his vengeance plot.

Inside the Oval Office, terror was seeping in. Secret Service agents, as well as Pierce, were scrambling to try and move Novick to safety. Kim was desperately hugging her son, who stood unaware of the terror around him, whilst Chloe was staring out of the window. Her breathing escalated as the weapon flew into view. Underneath the main body of Project Connaughton, a large panel opened up near the back and two large weapons were gradually lowered until locked into position. M242 Autocannons.

Within the laboratories of the headquarters, Jack wanted to shout and beg Henderson not to fire, but he just could not find the words. Stephen grabbed Teri tight and enveloped her in a big hug, determined not to let her see what was about to unfold. " _Autocannons firing in 10... 9... 8... 7..._ " the weapon's A.I voice declared. Henderson gave a devilish smile, his ultimate revenge about to be fulfilled. The sweat poured from Jack's forehead as he stood unable to do a thing. As the seconds ticked by, the weapon moved closer and closer to the target. " _...6... 5... 4... 3... 2..._ " the voice continued until suddenly, the feed went blank. Henderson's controls shut off one by one, just as they had done in the tunnel leading to the underground levels. " _Connection to weapon terminated, unable to complete programmed orders. Please re-establish connection.._ " the AI voice suddenly slurred. Henderson froze, shocked at what had happened. Jack looked towards him, surprise turning into relief and delight.

Just outside the White House, Project Connaughton suddenly gained lift and gradually rose back into the air, the Autocannons barely missing the roof of the building. Watching through the windows, Chloe saw this take place and looked up at the ceiling. "What was that?" she said quietly. Everyone else could not understand what had just happened. The weapon had descended enough to the point where it was looking ready to fire on the building, but then it had just risen back up and not attacked whatsoever? What was going on exactly? A theory coming to mind, Chloe quickly raced towards the laptop that had first alerted her to something being wrong and set to work. She needed to get radio communication opened up as she had a hunch as to what had going on.

Back inside the laboratories, Henderson was desperately trying to get the connection to the weapon back online. But regardless of what he did, nothing worked. Somehow and even as he tried to switch to manual control, he had been locked out once again and this time, it looked to be permanent. "Come on, what's the matter with you?" he hissed before finally pulling back on the control columns. This seemed to have done the trick as the live visual feed sparked back to life – only instead of approaching the White House, Project Connaughton was now flying back into the skies above the DC city centre. Henderson sighed in relief, knowing that it was probably just a slight glitch. Then all of a sudden, the visuals changed once again; this time, everyone within the laboratories could now see what appeared to be some kind of advanced cockpit and it appeared that that cockpit had a pilot. " _I'm dreadfully sorry, Mr Henderson – it would appear that your aircraft has suffered from a slight case of hijackingentis! We would happily return control to you but frankly, why should we considering all of the destruction you've wreaked?_ " a female voice suddenly called out, almost seeming smug and delighted at Henderson's loss of controls.

As for Henderson, his jaw dropped and he literally stopped dead as he took in the words of the woman he was hearing. Jack, on the other hand, was as delighted as he had been for quite some time. He knew who that voice. "Oh, Heather! You really came through.." he said, shaking his head in disbelief. At the mention of the name Heather, the pieces of the puzzle came together for Henderson. Despite the weapon controls telling him otherwise, the teenager who had tried to hack into Project Connaughton was still alive and now she had somehow gotten into the main-frame after all.

–

 **White House**

Back in the White House, thanks to Chloe's efforts in trying to set up a radio communication link, everyone in the Oval Office had heard Heather's admission. Whilst none of them had met the girl or knew what she really sounded like, the fact they had someone TAUNT Henderson that his control of the weapon had been lost all but confirmed that it was likely the teenage Walkman. "Any joy so far, Ms O'Brien?" Pierce asked, to which Chloe shook her hand. "Not quite; I'm trying to establish a connection with wherever that voice came from but it's been very well masked, like someone doesn't want us to talk with them" she admitted, just before her phone began to ring once again. She reached for and opened it. "O'Brien" she spoke into it. " _Have you figured out the dots yet, Chloe?_ " a gruff European voice suddenly. Chloe paused and frowned, before finally realizing who was talking to her.

"Belcheck?" she spluttered, with her mentioning the Serb mobster instantly attracting Novick's attention. " _That's me, Chloe – have you figured out the dots?_ " Belcheck responded, still pressing for an answer to his question. It took a few seconds but finally, the former analyst figured out just what the Serb was trying to say. "You mean... that was you, you hijacked the weapon?" she asked. " _Well to be fair, you can't give me all the credit –_ BUT I am currently at the controls for it! You have to thank the Walkman girl for getting in though" Belcheck remarked, as he sat in the weapon's cockpit. He had his right hand holding the phone next to her ear, with his left hand on the left-hand control column. The control columns looked exactly like they did for the portable controls currently in Henderson's possession, with the control panel missing a large shaped slot on it; almost like the portable controls could just slot in like that. " _Wait, so Heather is definitely alive?!_ " the former analyst replied. Even though she knew that Heather was alive from hearing her declaration, it felt like a relief for it to be confirmed beyond a doubt. "She is – _I'll patch you through!_ " Belcheck insisted. The seconds ticked by until finally, Chloe and everyone else in the Oval Office heard the Serb speak again.

" _Heather, you're on with the White House!_ " he said. " _Hello? Mr President?_ " Heather said, albeit her voice sounding a little unsure – hence her decision to address the Acting President above everything else. "This is the President, young lady. I do have some questions for you though" Novick responded. " _That's fine, sir. Go right ahead_ " the teenager replied and the Acting President took a bit of a deep breath. He had a lot of questions to ask and what honestly felt like not nearly enough time to do it in.

–

10:35:21AM

 **Guardstrom Laboratories**

Henderson had been still and silent for what felt like an eternity. He was desperately fighting to regain control, but nothing worked. He stopped dead, removing his hands from the control columns. Jack could then only watch as Henderson's anger exploded – with a snarl and a growl, he ripped the control from his body and hurled it onto the floor, the metal surrounding the controls smashing apart. "I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE GONE IN FOR THE KILL!" he roared, struggling to comprehend how on earth his plans had failed like that. Jack decided to make one last attempt to get through to him before things went beyond the moral horizon. "Henderson?" he started, only for the man in question to interrupt. "NO! Oh no.. no, Jack, we are way beyond convincing me to give up!" he snapped before storming forward and practically throwing the former agent to the ground. Finally, he pulled out his gun and stormed forward towards the other two captives in the laboratory – and promptly grabbed Teri, hauling her back and forcing her into her knees before pointing the gun at Stephen. "Any movement from you and your daughter gets a bullet in the hand!" he warned a terrified Stephen and then turned towards Jack.

"You did this, Jack! You started this whole chain and now it's time to strike back! I may still have a use for you yet, but I can't say the same of your family..." he added, finally pointing the gun at the top of Teri's head. The girl, clearly terrified, could see her father and grandfather's expressions. "NO!" Stephen cried, whilst a helpless Jack cried "HENDERSON, PLEASE!".

But then seconds later, all hell broke loose. Metres behind Henderson, there was a large metal wall panel – which suddenly exploded and sent pieces flying everywhere. Stephen was knocked onto his side, whilst Henderson went flying forward, loosing his grip on his gun in the process, and Teri immediately ducked and covered. Jack could only close his eyes and wait for the seconds to tick by before reopening them. Henderson slowly got to his feet, unsure of what had just taken place. He quickly saw his gun and his gut instinct made him run for the gun, but mere seconds before he could grab it, he was slammed from behind and thrown to the floor. Neither one of Jack, Stephen or Teri could see who it was, but they could see Henderson wrestling with the figure – until finally, Henderson was grabbed by the throat and hauled off the floor.

"Hello, Henderson.. remember ME?!" General Benediktov snarled as his face emerged from the shadows, a combination of anger at the man who betrayed him and delight at having finally caught up with said man. Henderson's eyes widened at the sight of the Russian. "Gen... General.. how are you here?" he could only splutter out, considering his throat was being slightly compressed by Benediktov. "You pulled the wool over my eyes, now it's time for you to pay, WITH YOUR LIFE!" the Russian could only say before dropping him like a sack of potatoes onto the floor. He glared at Henderson as he gasped for breath, before noticing the American standing not too far from him, a look of evident surprise on his face at the sight of the General. He gave a wry smile. "You're a sight for sore eyes, Bauer.. here!" he remarked before throwing the briefcase of launchers at Jack's feet. "Sorry, I had to use a few more. But there are still six of them in there, so we're all.." he added, not giving the former agent a chance to say anything in response. But he was unable to finish what was saying, as it was now Henderson's turn to throw himself at the man before him.

Benediktov slammed his foot into the face of Henderson and quickly spotted the gun, leaping towards it – but Henderson grabbed his leg and hauled himself up, landing on top of the General. The two forced their hands around the other person's necks, stuck in a vicious brawl; that was, until suddenly the Russian used his hands to force Henderson off of him and send him flying into a wall, concussing him. He landed on the floor, slightly delirious and out of it. Benediktov then turned to Jack. "I would say it's done, Bauer. Do what you need to do and then we'll deactivate the launchers as promised" he said as he suddenly fell to his knees, putting his hands above his head – almost like as if he knew what to come. As this was happening, Stephen quickly rushed forward and helped remove the rope tying Jack's hands behind his back. Almost as soon as his hands were free, the former agent rushed towards his grand-daughter, who was still in a position of duck and cover. "Teri! It's ok, sweetheart – you're safe!" Jack assured the young girl, who looked up and immediately hugged her grandfather. "Jack... what the devil are these?" Stephen suddenly asked and Jack looked towards his son-in-law, who had opened up the briefcase the General had thrown and was looking at six remote missile launchers. "It's a long story and frankly we've not the time to discuss it.. you two have to get out of here!" the former agent insisted, getting to his feet and racing over to his son-in-law.

"Where though? We heard that bang from what was likely near the tunnel, I guarantee the way we're going out won't be the same way that we came in" Stephen wisely pointed out. Jack alternated between looking at his family and looking at Henderson, still looking out of it next to the wall. "MR BAUER!" a voice called from the gap in the wall where the Russian General had destroyed and all three family members turned around to see a Marine coming towards them through the rubble. It was Banks. "Banks? How did you..?" Jack remarked, very surprised to see him alive and in one piece considering what had happened on the surface. "I was outside when it all went to hell. Had to find a way inside on order of the President and ended up following... Benediktov?" the Marine started trailing off as he spotted the Russian standing in the middle of the laboratory in a surrounding position, with Henderson seemingly knocked out behind it. He couldn't quite believe it – Andre Benediktov, a man who had written himself into history as a despised terrorist trying to fulfil what he considered to be "revenge" on the behalf of Europe, had surrounded just like that. "That doesn't matter – you need to get out of here and take Stephen and my grand-daughter with you!" Jack insisted. Stephen looked at him, confused.

"Wait.. you're not coming with us?" he asked. The former agent shook his head. "I have one last thing to do – but I promise, I will see you both!" he said as he got down to his grand-daughter's level and hugged her tightly. It did hurt to have to yet again leave the young girl just minutes after seeing her for the first time in many years, but it had to be done. He had to finish what had been started and save the country, save the world from a slow self-destruction. "Promise?" Teri said sadly, knowing that her grandfather had promised he would catch up with them four years ago, only to then disappear in an attempt to avoid the Russians trying to kill him and his own fellow Americans trying to capture him for what had taken place in New York. "I promise, sweetheart.." Jack said assuringly, even kissing Teri on the head in the process. "Now please, go!" he added sternly, addressing all three people. It worked, as Banks led Stephen and Teri out of the laboratory and into the hallway, back towards the tunnels.

With that sorted, Jack immediately turned back towards Benediktov. "I'm not gonna lie, General.. I wasn't sure if I would really see you again after what happened at the Port. But you kept your end of the bargain. Show me how to deactivate the launchers" he said sternly, motioning that he could move from his surrender position before heading towards the open briefcase of launchers. He turned it around and pulled it fully open, revealing all six launchers in-tact. "It'll take some time; but with the Serb still in the air and the girl pulling the strings with controlling the weapon, we can afford that time" Benediktov pointed out as he took one of the launchers. Of course, what both men had failed to do was make sure that Henderson was actually fully unconscious – whether they forgot or they just assumed that he was unable to really do anything, it wasn't really known. But neither of them had given thought to even making sure that Henderson was restrained before they set to work and that slip of the mind was set to be of big consequences.

Mainly because Henderson was slowly but gently coming back into it. He had somehow managed to regain his senses and looked up at the scene before him – the man and girl were gone, but both Bauer and Benediktov were ahead of him and with the remote launchers for the six remaining Yuri Dolgorukiy missiles. And an idea came into the head of Henderson. He might well have lost control of Project Connaughton, but that didn't mean that there were still potential weapons available to him. All he needed was one missile to do what he now had planned. He slowly got to his feet and edged gingerly forward. He didn't need to be right behind them to surprise them, but he needed to go far enough to jump at them. He crept forward slowly, shaking his head to try and clear it further. "And hopefully, with one flick of the switch, that should be one launcher deactivated.." Benediktov remarked as he stared at the screen. Finally, it fully shut down. "One down, five to go" he remarked as he threw the launcher onto the floor and promptly stomped on it, crushing it into tiny pieces.

"Well, I'll only need two!" a voice remarked and before either one of Jack or Benediktov could register what had just been said, Henderson threw himself at the Russian and both collapsed onto the floor, with Henderson then smashing his legs into Jack's legs and knocking him completely off balance, resulting in the briefcase of launchers crashing onto the floor and sliding towards Henderson, who grabbed two launchers as quickly as he could – literally just as the Russian hauled him off of him and grabbed him by the shirt. But Henderson was prepared for that, as he slammed his feet into the Russian's legs and escaped from his grip. From the corner of his eye, he spotted a piece of metal that had broken off from the half-exoskeleton surrounding the controls to the weapon and grabbed it, swinging it with enough force that he sent Benediktov flying backwards into Jack, who was just in the middle of getting back to his feet.

Using the chance as best as he could, Henderson moved quickly to program in new co-ordinates for the missiles he intended to launch. Quickly managing to regain his own senses, Benediktov once again launched himself at Henderson and both men went flying onto the floor. "Bauer! Could do with some help!" he cried as he struggled to keep Henderson under control. Jack looked around and quickly spotted the rope that had coincidently been used to tie up his own hands, picking it up and racing towards the Russian General. "I'll take it from here, you check those launchers!" he insisted, pushing Benediktov off of Henderson and immediately tying his hands behind his back with the rope – all whilst resisting repeated attempts by Henderson to get the former agent off him. Finally, he was able to do it whilst Benediktov grimly examined the two launchers. For the first time since stealing the submarine back in Greenland, his face went white.

"Bauer... we may have a problem! I have no idea where they're going!" he said slowly as he picked up the launchers and turned around so that Jack could see what was on the launcher screen-pads. Benediktov had good reason to go white. The launchers had been activated, co-ordinates laid in. And as the General said, he had no idea where or what they were being launched at.

At the bottom of the ocean, in the long minutes that had followed the last missile launch, the Yuri Dolgorukiy had slightly fallen into its left-hand side – in essence, the remaining five missiles that could be launched were now facing the ocean surface at an angle. And then two of the hatches opened up. Within seconds of each other, one was fired and then the second one was fired. Both raced towards the surface and rocketed out of the water and towards the sky so quickly that it felt like a "blink and you'll miss it" scenario. Both raced into the sky before levelling out and moving into what was a horizontal angle, in the direction of the state of Virginia and presumably, Washington DC.

–

 **White House**

"Jack, Jack! Slow down and start again! What's going on?" Chloe insisted as she moved back towards the laptop. She and practically everyone else in the Oval Office had not been expecting to get a phone call from the former agent and when Chloe had tried to answer, Jack had practically almost started yelling about "impending danger" and "missiles". " _I just told you Chloe, we have a problem! We have Henderson in custody_ but he managed to gain access to the missile launchers – you've GOT TWO HEADING YOUR WAY!" Jack responded, looking over the launchers in a bid to figure out where the missiles were headed. " _Jack, sorry to interrupt – but did you just say "we"? Who's there with you?_ " Novick suddenly interrupted over the phone, having heard the former agent. Jack looked over at Benediktov, who was making sure that a restained Henderson was going nowhere. "General Benediktov is with me, sir; he saved Stephen and Teri, he came at just the right time! And speaking of, you should be hearing from _Kevin Banks any second now. He's got my daughter's family with him, both of them are safe!_ " the former agent explained as he made his way over to the Russian General.

"Alright, Jack – we'll let Kim know.." Chloe said, only to be interrupted. " _Chloe, I don't care what you do. But you need to tell Heather about the missiles;_ she's controlling the weapon and that means she has to blast those things out of the sky!" Jack insisted, handing the Russian the launchers and indicating to him to try and find out what and where they were targeting. " _Alright, Jack, we'll do that. But I thought you might like to know;_ we've located Belcheck. He's in the cockpit for the weapon, alternating control with Heather" the former analyst explained, managing to resist the urge to smirk at how ridiculous but true it sounded. Jack was very surprised to hear this. With regards to how he actually managed to get inside the weapon, he had no idea but in the grand scheme of things, that didn't matter. His Serbian ally had managed to come through at a really critical time and that was good. "Tell him he has to hurry; we reckon the missiles could reach _their target within the next couple of minutes. We'll ring back if we figure out where exactly the missiles have been programmed to destroy_ " the former agent insisted as he hung up.

He looked over at Benediktov, who was grimly and critically looking over the launchers and trying to figure out what exactly they were targeting.

–

 **Skies Above Washington DC**

" _From what I've been able to ascertain, the best way of destroying the weapon would be to do it over the North Atlantic. That way, no chance of anyone being killed_ " Heather explained over the phone to Belcheck, who was holding it in position between the top of his shoulder and his right ear as he held both hands on the control columns for Project Connaughton. "That works for me. I'll just eject over the water – I got in the cockpit, I can easily get out.." the Serb replied, agreeing with the teenager's suggestion, when he was somewhat interrupted. Taking his left hand, he checked the phone and realized someone else was trying to call him. "I'll be one second.." he told Heather before taking the next call.

" _Everything ok, Chloe?_ " he asked. "No, we may have another problem on our hands! I've just spoken with Jack, two missiles _have been launched at the city!_ " the former analyst replied quickly. The alarm bells within the Serb's mind started to ring at that. "Where have they been programmed to target?" he asked. " _We don't know! Jack and Benediktov are trying to figure out where, but nothing so far. But_ whatever happens, you and Heather need to stop those missiles from hitting their targets!" Chloe insisted, as if the Serb didn't need to be told. " _Alright, alright_. I'll tell Heather – try and track the missiles as best you can, we don't want to be hitting them blind!" Belcheck rightly pointed out, before hanging up and returning to his original call. "Heather? We have a big problem and _we have to stop it!_ _The White House just told me that two missiles have been launched at somewhere in the city!_ " he continued.

Almost immediately, the teenage Walkman had looked over at the main-frame she was now sharing control with. Controlling the weapon was one thing, but actually firing the large variety of weapons within the two wings? That was actually something else entirely. "Alright, but we'll need to track their location as well! I should be able to get the weapons active to the point where you can use them but we can't fire without knowing where the missiles are!" she responded, essentially repeating what Belcheck had told Chloe. " _I know! Chloe's gonna tell us when they're on the White House radar_ but until then _.._ " the Serb mobster replied, the phone now back between his head and his shoulder considering he needed both hands at the control columns. "I get that. Anyhow, you should be getting weapons capability on your end any second now.." Heather explained and as the seconds ticked by, the various lights on the control panel within the super-weapon cockpit began to light up. " _Weapons activated – firing capability now available from Project Connaughton cockpit_ " the Artificial Intelligence voice revealed. "It's done, I've got it. You'll most _certainly going to have to take control of guiding the weapon itself but provided Chloe gives us the co-ordinates.._ " the Serb mobster responded almost as soon as the A.I voice had finished speaking.

"I get that, I can do that. Just make sure the artillery fires or we're done for!" Heather said. She looked up at the three men around her in the ambulance; Gumushan as well as Al and Brian had all heard Heather's conversation with Belcheck. To the two paramedics, whoever this person was causing all the chaos and destruction, he was hell-bent on not going down without a fight. The Turkish-Cyprian, meanwhile, had a gut feeling that wasn't going away. What if Henderson had figured out that he had been yet again locked out of the super-weapon by Heather and Belcheck? He couldn't prove it, but something inside him was telling him that they had to get as far away from here as possible.

In the skies above the east of the State of Virginia and heading in the direction of DC, meanwhile, were the two missiles. As with all the other missiles that had been launched from the Yuri Dolgorukiy, they looked like nothing was going to stop them as they rocketed towards DC.

Back in the Oval Office in the White House, Chloe had been overlooking the aerial map of the city centre ever since talking to Belcheck. The red signal indicating the White House was obviously still on the screen, whilst the orange signal indicating the super-weapon was flying further and further away from the city. She was still waiting for any sign of the two Russian missiles, so she could alert Belcheck in time. At that point, Jimmy O'Franklin raced in – holding his own laptop. "You were right, Chloe! We've picked them up, here are the missiles!" he almost yelled, slamming the laptop right into the one showing the signals. The former analyst looked at the second laptop. O'Franklin was right; two blue signals were on the screen and getting closer and closer to the city. "Any idea on where they're headed exactly?" Novick asked, walking towards the two analysts.

"Yeah, I certainly do. It looks like the targeted co-ordinates are for just north-west of the Embassy for the Commonwealth of Australia – 38.911126, -77.040749" O'Franklin explained, looking over the screen. That was all Chloe needed as she opened her phone and dialled a number. "Belcheck? It's me, we have the target co-ordinates..." she started.

–

 **Guardstrom Laboratories**

Ever since Henderson had been restrained by Jack, he had remained silent and propped up against a wall panel, watching the former agent and the Russian general closely. The one good thing about the situation was obviously that the two missiles had been launched and neither one of Bauer or Benediktov could do nothing personally to stop it.

Suddenly, he felt a shadow on top of him and looked up to see General Benediktov looking down at him and glaring. Henderson scoffed. "You've certainly changed your tune, General – a few hours ago, you were so hell-bent on destroying this country you destroyed your own transport! What's changed?" he remarked in an almost sarcastic tone – only he wasn't expecting Benediktov to once again grab him by the throat and slam him back into the wall, his legs off the group. Jack immediately looked up and saw the scene. "General! I wanna take him alive, let him pay for his crimes" he insisted as he walked up to behind the Russian. Exchanging a glance with him, Benediktov looked back at Henderson and finally dropped him onto the ground, but before getting in nice and close so he could look into his eyes. "I may despise this country with every drop of blood inside me, but I NEVER intended to start a war because of it – and I CERTAINLY NEVER started all of this for personal vengeance! I just wanted to show America that Europe still is and always will be a force to be reckoned with.." he hissed quietly before pushing Henderson back into the wall and letting him slide down it, back onto the floor.

He turned back towards Jack, who sighed and returned to the two activated launchers before him. At that point, he quickly spotted something on one of the launchers. Both missiles appeared to be moving closer and closer to their shared target. The former agent immediately opened his phone and dialled a number, Benediktov managing to grab a look at the screens in the meantime. "Chloe, it's Jack. You'll be having in-coming in the next couple of minutes!" the former agent said into the phone.

–

 **DC City Centre**

By now, the two missiles were practically on the outskirts of the airspace for the capital city. Above the city skyline, Belcheck could only sit and wait as Project Connaughton was manoeuvred into position by Heather on the ground; she would use her successful hacking of the weapon's main-frame to control the super-weapon, whilst the Serb mobster would fire any one of the variety of weapons onboard in the hopes of successfully hitting and destroying the missiles before they reached their target.

For the first time in quite some time, Belcheck was feeling the nerves. He wouldn't really argue with the suggestion that he had been through a lot in the last couple of days and was running on complete fumes, having not really slept properly since he and Jack had arrived in England about 18 hours before his operation to break Chloe out of the CIA Offices in London commenced. He was amazed that he was still awake, but he knew it likely wouldn't last. He knew that Jack, Chloe, probably Novick and a lot of people in the White House were probably in the same boat he was in, but until Henderson was stopped and taken into custody or even killed, they couldn't rest. It was as simple as that.

Suddenly, his phone began to ring. "Yes?" he spoke into it, trying to remain stoic and calm in the face of a huge task. " _We've got company, Belcheck. The White House just told Heather that the missiles are approaching –_ get the weapons ready!" Gumushan said as he watched over the teenager working. " _You don't need to tell me twice, just make sure_ I'm in position!" the Serb replied sternly. " _I can assure you you're in position_. Are the weapons ready?!" Heather snapped back, just as sternly. The two paramedics could sense the tension not just within the ambulance but over the phone as well, but they knew this pretty much was as tense a situation as one could really get. " _Yes.._ they are. I have a bit of an idea of what the key ones are at the least so..." Belcheck finally replied, suddenly hanging up the phone. The time for talk was over and it was time to take action. It was pretty basic and simple saying this, but the missiles had to be destroyed before they found their target.

Suddenly, the Serb mobster could feel the weapon picking up speed – which surely meant that it was heading to intercept the missiles. He wasn't too sure as to where he was going exactly, but on the outside of the weapon, it certainly looked like as though he was heading for the northern part of Bethesda. As for the missiles, they were now rushing in from the North-East of the capital city, as they had just rushed over the small census-designated area of Columbia. They were approximately two to three minutes from their target. From within the ambulance, Heather was using the weapon's main-frame to track the missiles – and finally, she hit the jackpot. She was able to pick up the signal of one of the missiles. She would have preferred to pick up the signals for both of the missiles but one would almost certainty do for now. In the airspace above the outskirts of DC, the weapon continued to race through the skies, Belcheck waiting for the exact time to start using the various artillery available to him. All he needed was an alert from Heather telling him when to strike – and finally, that alert came to him in the form of a ping from his phone. Not wasting a second more, the Serb mobster decided to try the weapon's computer. "Activate.. primary weapons within main body" he decided at last, knowing what the weapons underneath the main body were.

Underneath the body and behind the spinning sphere, the front two auto-cannons lowered into position. " _Auto-cannons locked in and ready for use_ " the Artificial Intelligence voice for the computer declared. The Serb mobster wasted no time. "Fire auto-cannons!" he ordered, aware he would likely miss but also aware that he had to fire somewhere. On the outside, the artillery shells within the auto-cannons were fired. But on this occasion, as he had expected, the shells ended up missing the target altogether – on the plus side, however, they did manage to explode either side of the missile, a move that managed to see the missile slightly off-course. Following the missile's course from the ground, Heather was quick to pick up on this. She could only hope that Belcheck would continue to fire because if it went slightly off-course enough, it would end up in the line of fire for the auto-cannons.

And to her relief, though she did not realize this at the time, the Serb mobster did continue to fire. The auto-cannons fired two more artillery shells and whilst they again missed, one of them managed to explode closer to the first missile. Again, the missile veered slightly off-course and Belcheck continued to fire. Finally, he hit the jackpot. One of the shells was fired and crashed into the back of the missile. In one massive explosion, the missile was ripped apart and the burning wreckage started to plummet towards the ground at an incredibly high speed. On the ground, both Heather and Chloe spotted one of the blue signals disappearing from the weapon's main-frame and then the screen on the laptop showing the signals respectively. "One down, one to go.. come on, Belcheck! Deliver the goods" Heather said to herself as she began programming the weapon to start going after the second missile. What the Serb mobster couldn't have known was that the second missile had gotten a bit of a head-start on the weapon as a result of him taking time in trying to destroy the first missile; he did realize that maybe the missile was out of his target range by virtue of the fact that the weapon was picking up speed and racing through the skies back towards the city centre.

This was going to be close, far too close for his liking. He was set to have one shot to destroy it and that was it, he did not want to end up causing even more damage and destruction to the capital city of the country than what it had already experienced. Ahead of him, the missile began to close in on its target as it veered sharply to the left – Heather noticing this and taking action to ensure the weapon stayed closely on its tail. Timing it as best as he could, given he had no idea where in front of him the missile was, Belcheck took a shot at pot luck and fired the auto-cannons. By a stroke of complete and utter luck, the shells managed to hit their target. Much like what had happened with the first missile, it exploded spectacularly on impact. Back within the ambulance, Heather saw the signal for the second missile disappear, much to her delight. "It's done! Tell Belcheck the missiles have both been downed" she ordered Gumushan, who did as she asked.

In the Oval Office, the second blue signal vanished from screen. As Chloe realized what had happened, she heard an explosion coming from somewhere in the city centre and looked up. The second missile. "Yeah, yeah.. listen, Belcheck. Just fly that thing out to the North Atlantic. We'll see you in a few hours.." Gumushan explained over the phone as he hung up. But then there came a second explosion and that explosion could be heard very clearly; a bit too clearly for the Turkish-Cyprian, who quickly put two and two together and realized what was likely about to happen. "THE MISSILE WAS TARGETING US! COME ON, LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" he yelled and as the weight of his words hit home for Heather and both of the paramedics. All four people scrambled to get away from the crash-site, as the debris from the explosion started to plummet down towards them. Brian and Al were able to make it out of the doors to the ambulance and started to help Heather out, as a burning piece of wreckage rocketed downwards towards the sight. It slammed into the wrecked building and practically demolished it in one go. Heather and the paramedics were forced backwards by a combination of the shock-waves and dust, as more and more burning bits of wreckage crashed down around them. 30 seconds previously, it had looked like a simple accident site; but now, it looked like a bomb site with the wreckage and destruction burning everywhere.

Within the weapon's cockpit, not knowing what had potentially happened to Heather, Belcheck visibly relaxed at what Gumushan had told him. The signals for both missiles were dead. They had managed to intercept and destroyed them. He immediately moved for his open phone and began dialling a number. The call was picked up pretty much instantly. " _Give us some good news, Belcheck_ " Chloe insisted, the Serb recognizing the worry in her voice. "It's all good, Chloe. The missiles have been destroyed. _You can all relax.._ " he insisted, Chloe and Novick breathing a sigh of relief at the news. Their faces relaxing was a good sign to everyone else in the Oval Office. But then Chloe noticed something odd on the map displaying the coloured signals for the White House and the super-weapon.

"That's good, but are you aware you're flying away from the city?" the former analyst replied after a few seconds, confused over the orange signal heading upwards on the screen. " _I am, but don't worry. Heather has programmed the weapon to_ fly out towards the ocean where we can crash it safely. Mr President, any chance of a helicopter to come rescue me?" Belcheck replied calmly, making his request to the Acting President in the process. Novick was a little surprised at both the request and what Heather and Belcheck were doing to get rid of the weapon, but in thinking about it, it was the most logical option available. "Very well, Mr Belcheck – you've done a lot for our country in the last couple of hours, I think it's only right we do that for you. _We'll follow the signal for the weapon out to the North Atlantic and I'll send a helicopter to retrieve you_ " the Acting President responded in agreement.

"Thank you, sir.." the Serb finished before hanging up. Across both the super-weapon's cockpit and the Oval Office, there were faces of relief and delight. The chain of destruction in the city that had first been sparked by the aerial assault in the early hours was nearly at an end. All that had to be done was to bring Henderson and Benediktov into custody – and considering how the Russian General had openly agreed to surrender himself in return for being allowed to bring down Henderson, they only had one person to worry about. As long as Jack was able to bring him out of the remains of Guardstrom Headquarters in one piece, the city as well as the rest of the nation could relax.

But little did Belcheck, or in fact anyone within the White House, realize what had happened in the north of the city centre. It had happened so fast that had someone been inside the wreckage of the building, no-one could have really done anything to save them. By virtue of Gumushan's gut feeling convincing him that they needed to get out of the turned-over ambulance, all four occupants had managed to escape unharmed. Feeling the fire burning over her, Heather slowly struggled to her feet and looked desperately for any signs of Gumushan and the two paramedics. But it was as she looked around that she spotted something on the ground and her eyes went wide with horror. She braved the heat to get close enough to what she spotted and she knelt down to get a closer look – it was the tablet computer she had used to hack into the super-weapon's main-frame. And it was smashed beyond repair. On the screen, she could just about make out some little bits of the main-frame but there was simply nothing that she could do to keep control of the super-weapon in her hands.

Looking up at the sky, knowing that Project Connaughton was likely flying out of the city on her orders, she knew one thing. Belcheck had no idea that control had technically now been passed onto him, but if Henderson somehow realized that the controls he possessed had effectively been reconnected on his end, he could program in an order or something similar – wrecking her plans to destroy the weapon at long last. Furthermore, because of the damage caused by the hack to begin with, whatever the weapon received as its next order, it was set to be the last order it would ever fulfil. It would go all out to complete that order, likely destroying itself in the process. For example, if Belcheck realized what had happened first, he could program the weapon to fly out to a certain point within the North Atlantic and it would likely crash itself into the sea. But if Henderson got to it and did something first... the mere thought of it was far too much to even contemplate.

–

10:46:31AM

Back within the underground remains of Guardstrom HQ, Teri burst out into the area of the complex where the convoy had originally been to pick up Walkman three hours previously – she was somewhat surprised to see a tunnel to her left, completely unaware that that tunnel would lead out to the hole in the road in the city centre and away from harm. "Teri! Can you see a car anywhere?" a voice called out and the young girl turned around to see her father being helped towards the double doors by the Marine called Banks. Owing to his injuries and fears that they wouldn't make it out of the complex quickly enough, Stephen had requested help in walking from Banks who was happy to assist.

Teri peered out at the area and almost immediately spotted the sports-car that Benediktov had stolen to get into the complex. "Yeah, there is! At the bottom of the stairs" she yelled back. "See if there are keys in the engine; so if, try and start it up! We'll be there soon" her father insisted. Teri was a little nervous at having to start up a car at her age but if they weren't quick, the awful man who took her and her father – as well as her own grandfather – hostage could very well catch up with them. She raced down towards the car, parked at an angle, and raced for the driver-side door. She spotted the keys in the ignition and sat down in the seat. From having been a front-seat passenger with either one of her mother or father in the driver's seat, she had a basic but limited knowledge of car gears.

She turned the ignition on and the engine roared to life – and then, going more out of luck than knowledge, pulled the gear-stick backwards. The car surged back towards the stairs with such force that Teri was lucky she was able to push the gear-stick back into forward gear and that the car came to a scraping stop just in front of the stairs. At that moment, both Stephen and Banks emerged from the double-doors. "Good work, honey! Let Mr Banks take it from her!" Stephen ordered and Teri climbed through the front seats into the back of the sports-car. Banks helped Stephen down towards the front passenger-side door, but before he got in, he looked back at the double-doors. "Come on, Jack.." he whispered desperately. He knew his father-in-law, even if he hadn't seen him in years – he always came through.

Back within the laboratories, Jack once again had his phone pressed next to his ear. "Great, thanks Chloe" he said before hanging up. "Don't ask me how, but Belcheck and Heather came through. The missiles have been destroyed! Henderson's last attempt at control is over!" he explained to Benedikov, who had been watching the former agent talk over the phone. Upon learning of this latest twist in the tale, the Russian General expressed surprise that turned into smug satisfaction as he peered over his shoulder at Henderson. As Bauer had said, his latest attempt to reclaim control of the situation was over. All that remained was for the two of them to take Henderson and get the hell out of here. Speaking of the man, as soon as he had heard the phone of the former agent ring, Henderson knew that that was probably someone from the White House telling him that the missiles had been destroyed.

How could things have gone so badly wrong? He was in the driving seat and he had all the cards and yet here he was, tied up and surely soon to be handed back over to the police. If he was going to take back control of the situation, he had one last attempt to make that happen and one chance only. He looked to his right, towards the controls to the weapon that he had and suddenly frowned. Even from the angle he was at, it looked like as though the lights to the controls were returning. What if.. that meant the connection was re-establishing itself? He had to get close enough to make sure and then do something to make sure he could once again hold all the cards against the White House. He needed to think of something quickly that would distract Bauer and General Benediktov long enough for him to get to the controls. And he had just the idea, as he overheard the two discussing getting the hell out of the underground laboratories.

"And Bauer.. I wanted to say thank you for letting me help. I've realized what a fool I've been and I'm ready to pay" the Russian admitted. Ever since the truth of how his plans had been manipulated by Henderson for his own ends had come out, Benediktov had been feeling general remorse for his destructive actions. He knew any possible attempts at getting out of what he had done and not being sentenced to death were practically non-existent, but he knew deep down that helping capture the real hidden mastermind of the whole power struggle would bring some peace and resolution to himself at least. Jack nodded at the General's admission, keeping silent. "Get Henderson on his feet – it's time we got out of here" he replied, almost pretending that Benediktov's admission didn't happen. Whilst disappointed slightly, the General understood why it had been ignored.

He walked over towards Henderson, but then frowned at the scene before him. Henderson was drooping to the side and his eyes weren't open, like as though he'd fallen unconscious. Benediktov had suspicions that this was a trick, but wasn't sure. "Bauer? Something's wrong with the bastard here, he's not moving" he said and Jack turned around so that he could see for himself. He should have instantly dismissed the act as a trick, but then he saw what appeared to be blood dripping onto the floor from behind – and coupled with the massive sleep deprivation that he was suffering from, on this occasion, he believed it to be the real thing. "Henderson?" he asked as he got down close enough to check on him. He didn't seem to be moving at all. "Pull him forward, need to undo his hands" he ordered the Russian, who looked sceptical but did as he was asked.

As Henderson was pulled forward, Jack immediately undid his hands. "You're not dying on us now, you know! Not after what you've done to this country!" he snapped as he checked over his hands to try and find the source of the dripping blood – only he found it was coming from his hand, from what looked like an intentional cut on his right hand. And then came a voice from the controls Henderson had for the super-weapon. " _Connection re-established. Waiting for next Project Connaughton order_ " the Artificial Intelligence voice declared. That was something both Jack and Benediktov were not expecting and they barely had enough time to realize just what that meant as Henderson pounced. He slammed his feet full force into Benediktov, sending him flying into his back, before taking his left leg and side-swiping Jack from below, the former agent slamming on his side as he hit the floor. Taking advantage, Henderson leapt towards the controls and nearly slid along the floor as he tried to grab the control columns – but just as he grabbed a hold of them, he was suddenly turned over by the legs and soundly punched in the face by Benediktov.

Jack could only watch as the two started to brawl, the General desperately trying to get the controls out of Henderson's immediate reach at the same time. Finally, Benediktov got the upper hand and grabbed Henderson by the shirt, throwing him back into the wall – but in the process, Henderson once again smashed his leg into the Russian General who fell backwards and tripped over the controls. Realizing what was possibly about to happen, Jack charged forward in the hopes of knocking him away but Henderson was one step ahead of him – the minute that Jack was close enough to him, he kicked his leg out and watched as the former agent smashed into it, unable to stop in time, and fell backwards towards the floor. Henderson had only a few seconds to act so he had to be quick – he had managed to figure out what he needed to do as he rapidly keyed in the co-ordinates for the weapon. Suddenly, he was hauled up and away from the controls and then slammed back into the wall by an angry Jack.

"When you're up on your feet, General, throw the controls away! We're getting out of here in the next five minutes.." he declared, making it clear in his tone of voice that he was not kidding around any more. General Benediktov did not need to be told twice as he grabbed the controls and prepared to throw them as far away from where they were all standing as possible. But then just a split-second before he threw, the Artificial Intelligence voice spoke up. " _Order and co-ordinates received_ " it revealed. "Wait!" Jack said suddenly and Benediktov stopped, having heard the declaration from the AI voice. The former agent grabbed Henderson's throat and slammed it against the wall. "WHAT.. does that mean?" he snarled, demanding to know. Even though Jack had him by the throat, Henderson still managed a smile. "My last trump card, Jack.. if I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" he sneered. Benediktov looked over the controls and his eyes went wide at what he found. He had not been expecting that. "Bauer – I know where the weapon's going" he said, Jack turning his head and not releasing his grip.

"Where?" he snapped. "Here.. as in what's above us overground. Henderson has somehow programmed the weapon to eliminate me. Got my heat signature and all" the Russian revealed. Jack's face was a mixture of shock and horror. Henderson was so hell-bent on killing him that he would target General Benediktov? The Russian deserved to pay for his crimes against the country but not like this and certainly not by this bastard! "How long?" he asked simply. Benediktov again looked over the controls. "I don't know.. I really don't – it depends on where the weapon is currently" he admitted. Jack shook his head in disbelief before finally dropping Henderson. Several seconds ticked by until the former agent unleashed his anger, punching Henderson twice in the face with enough force to completely knock him out. Ignoring the body slumping to the floor, Jack walked up to Benediktov. "We need to warn the White House, tell Belcheck he's flying to his death!" he said. But to his surprise, the General shook his head. "We could if your phone hadn't broke on that last impact.." he revealed, holding the controls in one hand and pointing at something behind the former agent with the other.

Jack was confused and followed where the General was pointing, only to spot his phone on the floor – and broken into two pieces. Effectively, they had no means of alerting Belcheck or the White House as to what was about to happen. He turned back around towards Benediktov. This was the last thing they needed to say the least. Project Connaughton was now out of practically everyone's control and they had no way of alerting Chloe, Belcheck and the White House before possible impact point. "Right, I'm gonna find a phone – warn Chloe! You just get Henderson ready!" Jack decided before racing out of the lab. He knew they had to leave but he also knew that the White House needed to be alerted, as he raced out of the laboratory.

Benediktov watched him leave and then looked down at the slumped body of Henderson. He was still shocked at the weapon targeting him directly but he wasn't scared. In fact, this was just what he wanted as he had a plan that would kill two birds with one stone and ensure that no-one else would have to die in the process.

–

 **East Coast Airspace**

Within the cockpit for Project Connaughton itself, Belcheck was unaware of what had happened on the ground and what was about to happen to the weapon itself. But at that moment, he had other things on his mind. He had been trying to call Heather for the last few minutes but every time he tried to ring her, for some reason the phone wouldn't connect the call. Every time, he kept hearing an automated voice telling him that the call could not "be connected". The Serb mobster frowned as he snapped the phone shut. The girl and the Turkish-Cyprian hadn't failed to respond to any of his calls almost immediately for the last hour, so why would they now and why are the phone calls not getting through at all? He looked back at the phone and snapped it back open. If anyone could figure out why they weren't answering her calls, it was Chloe and she would have more options available to her on the ground anyway compared to up in the skies above the city.

But before he could input the phone number to call the former analyst with, there was a sudden chime somewhere within the cockpit – followed by a voice. " _New orders and co-ordinates received. Course heading adjusted_ " the AI voice declared. Belcheck froze. NEW ORDERS? NEW CO-ORDINATES? What the hell was this all about? He hadn't done anything or said anything about new orders! Suddenly, he felt the whole aircraft rattle and shake before it lurched to the right unexpectedly, like as if it was turning. The lurching continued for quite a few seconds before the weapon levelled out. It appeared to be flying normal again, except it felt like as though it was flying in the opposite direction now.

Belcheck's blood ran cold as the idea ran through his head for the second time. The weapon was flying in the opposite direction, as in it was flying BACK to Washington DC! He tried the control columns but they had absolutely zero effect, no matter which direction he forced them in. He was practically trapped inside an out-of-control aircraft heading to somewhere within the capital city; his only option was to eject, but he couldn't do it at the speed he was at and certainly not at the height that the weapon was surely in. He was then suddenly pulled out of his thoughts by his phone ringing; Chloe. As he snapped it open, he didn't get a chance to say a word as the former analyst started yelling desperately. " _Belcheck, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!_ " she shrieked, demanding answers. "Believe me, Chloe – I know just as much as you do! _The weapon just turned around on its own, I can't control it from up here!_ " the Serb mobster insisted, words that send a chine down Chloe's spine. By now, the only people left in the Oval Office were the former analyst and the Acting President, with everyone else having been moved to another part of the building – if this wasn't Belcheck and this likely wasn't Heather, this could only mean that it was Henderson. What had happened now within the laboratories of Guardstrom HQ?

" _What about Heather, have you heard from her at all?_ " Belcheck continued. Chloe's eyes shot up in surprise at the question. "Heather? I thought she was in _contact with you_!" she responded, making a valid point. "No! I've been trying to get through to her, but my phone keeps saying the call can't be connected. Has anything major happened on the ground?" the mobster replied, now again having to position the phone between his head and his shoulder as the weapon seemed to be picking up speed and he had both his hands on the now effectively useless control columns. " _Not really.. not unless you count_ the debris crashing down from when you destroyed the missiles!" the former analyst realized, remembering the explosions that had happened just a few minutes previously. They all seemed to happen in the north of the city, in the area where Heather and Gumushan had been, so unless they failed to get out of the way of the debris, maybe they had lost the means to communicate.

" _Whilst we're thinking about it.. what about Jack, have you heard from him? If it's not Heather doing this,_ it's almost certainly Henderson!" Belcheck pointed out quickly. " _No. I tried calling him before the scanner picked up the change of direction, but he's not responding!_ " Chloe confessed, noticing Novick coming towards her – the Acting President held out his hand, indicating that he wanted to talk with the Serb mobster. She handed over the phone. "Mr Belcheck, it's the President – at this stage and based on what I've heard from Chloe, I would _strongly recommend you eject from the weapon! There's nothing you could do up there, son.._ " he suggested, trying to look at the growing issues from another angle – namely that of trying to avoid further unnecessary death. "With the greatest respect, sir, that's _something I can't do at the minute! I'm too high up in the sky to eject safely and even then, with the speed I'm going at as well.._ " Belcheck responded, understanding the Acting President's logic but also going back to the points he had thought of earlier, in that he would certainly die if he ejected at this altitude.

"But Belcheck, we can't just leave you like that! No-one deserves to die travelling at the equivalent of the speed of sound!" Chloe pleaded. She had firmly considered Belcheck to be a Serbian version of the Terminator – mainly in that he didn't really display much in the way of emotions – but he was trying to get through to his heart. " _I know what you're doing, Chloe.._ but you don't have to do that. If a chance to eject safely occurs, I will take it.. but the way I see it, _I_ 've fulfilled my part in this world. _I've helped you and Jack many times in the last two days and I'm happy to go out now, to ensure you a better life than what you currently have! In the meantime, just get through to Jack.._ " the Serb mobster responded, before promptly hanging up. Chloe and Novick had no way to react. Belcheck was perfectly willing to sacrifice himself to fully ensure that the weapon was destroyed. He didn't want people to remember him or honour him, he just wanted to make sure that every single innocent person in the world – like Chloe – could keep on living or even make a better life for themselves than what they had right now. In a way, he was like Jack.

Onboard the super-weapon, the Serb mobster snapped the phone shut and allowed the G-Forces taking place as a result of the weapon's speed to send the phone hurtling towards the back of the cockpit. He wasn't sure where exactly the re-planned co-ordinates for the weapon would be taking him, or even how long it would be before the weapon reached its destination, but it surely couldn't be too long. It was only a matter of time, as the weapon raced through the skies towards its target – General Andre Benediktov within the underground laboratories of the remains of Guardstrom Headquarters.

–

 **Guardstrom Laboratories**

The sound of a gunshot coming from the laboratories, just as Jack was in the middle of trying to find a phone to alert the White House, immediately got the former agent's attention – and triggered the alarm bells inside of him in the process. Who had fired that gunshot and most of all, why?

His concerns increasing, Jack quickly ran back towards the laboratories and pressed himself up against the wall next to the large hole, keeping him out of immediate sight. Slowly, he began to make his way through the hole in the wall and into the laboratory, trying to find something out of the ordinary. He frowned as he quickly realized that Benediktov was nowhere to be seen, as he edged closer towards Henderson's unconscious body. Turning his body around so that he was now facing the hole, he suddenly felt someone behind him and turned back around just in time to be punched in the face and forced backwards.

"Sorry about that, Bauer.. I needed to get your attention.." he could hear the Russian General speak up before the sound of what appeared to be handcuffs snapping shut was heard. Fearing the worst, Jack looked up at his own arms – only to find nothing had happened to them. He looked back along the wall and immediately spotted Benediktov sitting next to Henderson, the two of them bound together by a long chain that was wrapped around a pipe sticking out of the wall... and the handcuffs. Jack's eyes rose up at what he saw, getting to his feet and checking out the pipe. "I wouldn't bother, Bauer. To undo all that, you need the key and I just swallowed it" the Russian General said calmly, too calm for Jack's liking. "I don't understand, why...?" the former agent started, Benediktov interrupting. "Why are I doing this? Well, you told me to do this. You said to get Henderson ready and I have – he's ready to face the death he deserves!" the General explained.

Jack was struggling to understand what the General was up to and couldn't speak for several seconds, so Benediktov chose to add to his justification. "The way I see it, Bauer.. Jack.. the only way to make sure Henderson pays for what he has done is for me to die as well, to pay for what I've done myself! I know I said I would hand myself in when Henderson is captured, but the way I see it, this is the only way to make sure justice takes place! What's there to say there'll be an ambush as soon as we leave? We could both end up dead and Henderson would be free to continue his reign of terror" he reasoned. Jack was still surprised but could understand the logic of where the General was coming from. Benediktov knew he had committed atrocities in his quest to fulfil revenge against America and the revelations that both he and President Walkman had actually been pawns in Henderson's grand two-stage vengeance scheme had caused him to realize what he was doing and to feel remorse for what he had done. By sacrificing himself to ensure Henderson's death and to ensure the end of the crisis, it was possible he would at least be able to redeem himself in the eyes of both America and Russia. He would still be considered a terrorist, but at least the governments would realize the sacrifice he had made to defeat the bigger evil.

"I see where you're coming from. Alright, I can accept that, General. It's not ideal as I would rather you both faced justice but considering the overall situation.." Jack finally relented, just before the AI voice on the controls for the super-weapon spoke up. " _Project Connaughton is 120 seconds away from its target and counting!_ " it declared. Benediktov's eyes shot up.. 120 seconds? "Alright, Bauer. Time for talk is over! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE AND DON'T LOOK BACK!" he ordered the former agent, making it clear in his voice that he was not to be ignored. Jack sighed and finally began to head out of the laboratories, the Russian General watching. "And good luck to you.." he whispered to himself.

As Jack raced through the hole in the wall, he ran as quickly as his body would enable him to do. He had under two minutes to get out of the complex and into the tunnels. He wasn't too sure on how long it would take him to get to the tunnels, but he wasn't about to slow down either. Time was very much against him and for once, there was a chance it would ultimately beat him.

–

 **Skies above Washington DC**

Belcheck was not still completely 100% sure on just where above the DC city centre was, or even how much time he had until the weapon reached its target. Even as the cockpit and the weapon on the whole shook about because of the G-Forces they were experiencing, the Serb mobster simply refused to let go of the control columns he was holding onto. Suddenly, he felt what appeared to be the weapon dropping in altitude; he wasn't too sure on how much altitude had been lost but he was certain it wouldn't be enough for him to be able to survive. The weapon had to get even closer to the ground than it was now, if he wanted to eject.

On the ground and within the White House, Chloe and Novick were both in position in the Oval Office; Chloe was tracking Project Connaughton using the laptop to follow the signal it emitted, whilst the Acting President was looking out of the window to follow the skyline and to see if the weapon would drop enough for him to see it. "I can see it! It looks like it's going east!" he remarked, the former analyst immediately acting on this and following the signal. It was indeed going east, as if it was heading straight towards... Guardstrom Headquarters. A combination of her worries and intrigue flared up as the phone began to ring. There was a Secret Service agent at the front of the building who would be following the weapon, should he be able to physically see it – and then he would let the former analyst know where altitude it was at and where it was likely heading, based on that altitude. "O'Brian!" she said, having picked up the moment it had started to ring.

" _I can see it, Chloe! And it's descending even so slightly lower and lower as it goes.. I think it's headed for the Colmar Manor Park!_ " the female agent confirmed. Chloe had felt many chills rush down his spine, but this one was particularly cold. The super-weapon, effectively, was on a collision course with Guardstrom HQ. She could only pray that Jack got out of there in time.

–

 **Guardstrom Headquarters**

As Jack rounded a corner and nearly slipped over as a result, he could see a set of open double-doors ahead of him. He ran as fast as he could, as he burst through the doors and made extra careful to make sure he didn't end up falling down the steps.

He slowed to a halt and looked around, trying to find a vehicle of any kind that would get him out of the complex and into the tunnels and to safety. Finally, he spotted what appeared to be a small service vehicle a little distance away from what appeared to be a large tunnel-mouth. He raced towards it and climbed into the driver's seat, looking for any kind of keys. Opening up a small and hidden compartment, he was relieved to find a blue set. He almost slammed them into the ignition and began to turn them, hoping to start up the small vehicle. The engine groaned and struggled as it tried to find the energy to start up.

–

 **Skies above Guardstrom Headquarters**

Having felt the altitude drop further in the last 30 or so seconds, Belcheck could tell that the target site was most likely within range – but he still didn't want to eject, not until he knew that the weapon was at a safe height for him to eject.

But he also knew that he would have precious little time to actually eject, so he had to time it to the final second to give him the best chance of survival. All of a sudden, he felt the weapon experience a sharp nose-dive; it wasn't even remotely anything like the altitude suddenly dropping, this was the weapon rapidly falling downwards at what felt like the speed of sound! This was it, now or never, he thought to himself as his left hand battled the crippling G-Forces his body was experiencing and moved slowly towards the variety of buttons on the console. One of them was hopefully the eject button.

Near the tunnel-mouth, Jack was still struggling to start up the engine – until finally, it roared to life. Refusing to waste even a second of time, he forced the vehicle into reverse before moving the gear-stick into forward and allowing the vehicle to race into the tunnel. Within the laboratories, meanwhile, Henderson was slowly beginning to wake up. His head was pounding and he felt like he wanted to throw up. He tried to force himself up, only to be stopped by something seemingly holding down his right arm. He looked in the direction of that arm and his eyes widened in horror as he realized he had been handcuffed to the wall. "Perfect.. you're awake JUST IN TIME TO SEE YOUR DEMISE! See you in hell, you bastard!" Benediktov snarled, his revenge finally complete. Henderson realized what he meant and panicked, immediately trying to pull himself from the wall and failing miserably.

Within the nose-diving super-weapon, Belcheck was finally able to push down on a blue button positioned next to the right-hand control column. He suddenly felt the air rushing through the cockpit and looked up, noticing the metallic canopy now no longer within the cockpit. Finding the last of his strength, he released his grip on the control columns and pushed another blue button. The next thing he knew, he was suddenly within the sky as the cockpit seat ejected from the weapon and began to move upwards into the sky as a result of the G-Forces. Project Connaughton was nose-diving towards Guardstrom HQ at the speed of sound and nothing was going to be able to stop it. Belcheck knew what was able to happen as he began spiralling towards the ground, still in his seat, so he pulled down on a cord – activating the parachute safely secured inside the chair – and covered his eyes in readiness for what was to come.

One second, the super-weapon was visible to anyone who may have been in the surrounding area. But the next second, it had vanished. Project Connaughton slammed into what remained of the headquarters and exploded effectively on impact. A massive fireball emerged and shot up into the sky, almost like a mushroom cloud, before descending back down towards the ground. The explosion could be seen from within the city centre and the agent who had spotted the super-weapon flying east immediately covered her eyes. Inside the complex, explosions ripped through the underground corridors and collapsed everything in sight.

Within the laboratories, the explosions could very well be heard by the two men handcuffed to the wall – and their expressions couldn't have been any more different. Benediktov was calm and accepting of what was due to come, whilst Henderson was desperately panicking and trying everything he could do to avoid the unavoidable. Finally, the ceilings of the laboratory began to cave in bit by bit; a fireball descending from above and engulfing both men, with rubble and twisted metal collapsing in everywhere. Finally, one last explosion took place on the surface before the fires began to die down. The complex was no more, the entirety of the underground having completely caved in and destroyed everything and anything in its path.

Inside the Oval Office, Chloe got to her feet unsteadily and immediately moved to help the Acting President. As soon as they had heard the explosion, even though we were still quite some distance away, both had dived to the ground and waited until they felt it was over. As Novick got back to his feet, Chloe immediately walked back towards the laptop. The orange signal signifying the super-weapon's activity was no longer working. That was it. The weapon had been destroyed, no doubt if there even was any doubt.

The crash site, meanwhile, was now nothing more than a pile of twisted metal, rubble and wreckage. Fires were burning all over the area and the north end of the car park, right in front of the main building, had been swallowed up by the explosion. If there happened to have been anyone else inside at the time, there would have been nothing left of them to bury whatsoever.

–

 **White House**

Chloe closed up the laptop, now no longer needing a purpose for it. All that was left was to try and find both Jack and Belcheck. Even though she could not prove it, she knew they were both alive. They had to be.

At that moment, the doors to the Oval Office opened and several agents rushed in, accompanied by Pierce and Kim. "Sir! Please get away from the window!" one agent ordered and Novick did as he was asked, recognizing their concern. "Do you have Mr Belcheck on your database, son?" he asked. The lead agent raised an eyebrow. "Sir?" was all he could say in response. "I want a search order put out by the end of the hour; Mr Belcheck has gone missing in action, I want him found immediately!" the Acting President insisted, sharing a reassuring look with Chloe. The former analyst could only smile in relief; at least Novick was taking action and trying to find the Serb mobster, considering how much of a role he had played in ending the power struggle and stopping the crisis right in its tracks. "Chloe!" the former analyst heard her name being called and turned around to see Kim standing next to her. She knew what was about to be asked.

"I heard the explosion.. any word on my dad?" the young mother asked, the concern on her face quite clear. Chloe tried to find the words. "At this stage, not yet. We were in contact with him, but we lost that contact about five to ten minutes ago.." she admitted, her heart sinking as she saw the hope on Kim's face vanish. She moved to be reassuring. "Kim.. you know your father pretty much as well as I do. He'll have survived this, he's survived much worse than this!" she insisted, moving to hug the daughter of her best friend. She was right. Jack had gotten through much worse than this and lived to tell the tale. But to Kim, it wasn't enough. "If you were Jack and you'd just escaped the headquarters, where would you go?" she asked. Chloe was a bit flummoxed by the question, but she quickly came up with the answer. "...in the city centre, just north of here, there's a massive hole in the road! He'll have gone there" she replied, only to be met with a rather confused look from Kim.

"It'll make sense if and when you see it.." the former analyst insisted and at that, Kim immediately made to leave, clearly wanting to get towards this "hole in the road" as soon as possible – but she didn't get too far before literally running straight into Pierce. "Might I ask where you might be going, Ms Wesley?" he asked, having seen the different facial expressions between Chloe and Kim and having deduced from them that Kim had intentions of trying to find her father. "My dad's out there, Aaron. I want to find him, I need to find him!" she explained and tried to move past the veteran agent, only for Pierce to again block her way. "In light of the recent attack, I'm afraid we can't allow anyone to leave the building, Ms Wesley.." he explained sternly, Kim's hopes being dashed and her face sinking. "..that is, without an escort agent – and I would be happy to accompany you!" he suddenly added, his stern expression disappearing from his face. Kim's eyes lit up and she sighed in relief. "If you and Ms O'Brian could please follow me, we can leave immediately" the veteran agent continued, turning around to head towards the double-doors.

Kim started to walk off, but then stopped as she realized that Chloe wasn't following her. "Come on!" she almost snapped, waving her hands to get her to hurry up. The former analyst could only look at the Acting President. "We'll be fine, Chloe. Go! Bring Jack back here.." he ordered and finally, the former analyst moved from where was standing.

–

 **DC City Centre**

The fire from where the missile debris had landed had started to die down, but that didn't do anything to ease Heather's worries. She had heard the explosion coming from the east of the city and considering what she had seen of the smashed computer used to hack into the main-frame, she could only assume that the super-weapon had been destroyed. With regards to where exactly, she wasn't too sure – all she knew was that it appeared to have been downed somewhere on the eastern outskirts of the city centre... quite possibly near Guardstrom Headquarters.

As soon as she had heard the explosion, her desperation to find either one of Gumushan or even the two paramedics rose dramatically. She couldn't be the only survivor, she didn't want to be the only survivor. She continued her search through what she could of the rubble, only to be caught off guard by a shadowy figure that she spotted from the corner of her eye. The fear within her growing, she turned her head sharply to the left but breathed a sigh of relief; it was Brian. Not who she really wanted to be fair, but she was still happy to see that someone other than herself had survived.

"You ok?" the paramedic asked, immediately moving to hug her. "Yeah, yeah.. just about. Have you seen anyone else?" Heather asked, the relief on her face clear. "Only Al, he's gone to try and find help! Clearly, we're only missing Gumushan" Brian replied, only to be met with a confused look. "You haven't seen him?" Heather almost yelled, her worries flaring back up. "No.. I thought you might know!" the paramedic replied, realizing that no-one had seen him since the debris crashed onto the ground. This was all Heather needed, as she turned towards the wreckage. "GUMUSHAN! WHERE ARE YOU?! GUMUSHAN!" she desperately yelled.

–

Near the hole in the road exposing the ghost tunnel, three figures had managed to make their way out of the tunnel and back onto solid ground. Just as Stephen had been helped onto the road by a combined event of Teri and Banks, they had heard the explosion. All three people had no idea of what had happened to Project Connaughton or where exactly the explosion had come from, but hearing the explosion on the outskirts of the city had gotten Teri worried. "Don't worry sweetheart. We don't know what that sound came from.. for all we know, Grandpa is just fine" Stephen tried to reassure his young daughter.

"He's right you know, kiddo – I've only worked with your grandfather once in my life and that was today. But I have massive respect for him. He is an amazing person and he has done so much for his family, his country. He'll have survived this, no doubt about it" Banks added on, wanting to try and calm the girl down. As such, it was probably quite timely that there was a slight noise coming from behind them, from within the large hole. Teri heard it and looked behind her, immediately spotting something. "LOOK!" she yelled, pointing upwards. Both Stephen and Banks followed where she was pointing, their eyes going wide as a hand appeared on the edge of the hole. Followed by an arm and then another arm. Someone was forcing their way out of the hole. Teri immediately raced to lend this person a hand, hauling them onto the road with as much might as a girl under 10 could muster. Finally, the person was on the road. "Thank.. thank you, sweetheart. You've done an old man proud.." the person chuckled, moving his head up to reveal that it was Jack. Slightly battered, but in one piece and smiling at his grand-daughter before him.

"GRANDPA!" Teri cried in delight, immediately enveloping Jack in a hug. Stephen and Banks exchanged a look of complete surprise, before rushing over to the edge of the hole. The former agent released himself from his grand-daughter's hug, as he got to his feet – the first thing he did was hug Stephen. "I knew you'd make it! What on earth has been going on, though? That explosion.." Stephen asked, slightly confused by what had happened. "I'll explain later, I really will.. right now though, we should probably find your wife and Teri's mother. She'll be worried sick about us!" Jack responded and Stephen quickly realized he had a very good point. He hadn't seen Kim for nearly 36 hours, not since she'd left for New Jersey temporarily, only to end up captured and bought to the capital city.

But they needn't have bothered trying to start looking very far as barely only a few seconds after Jack had made his point, the sound of a vehicle approaching got everyone's attention. All four people looked behind them as a car appeared out of nowhere and came to a stop – Jack recognizing who was inside. Aaron Pierce, Chloe... and Kim. It was Kim who got out of the car first, shocked at just who she was facing. Her father, her husband and her daughter. All three of them were alive, but it was her father who got the most attention in her mind. "DAD!" she cried and she started to run towards him, only slowing as she got close to him before pulling the former agent into a hug. "I knew you were alive, I just knew it.." she said but as the seconds went by, no response came. "Daddy?" Kim said, starting to grow concerned at the lack of response – but then she suddenly felt the weight of her father pressing down on her shoulder. Suddenly, Jack collapsed and fell onto the ground, face first.

Having been watching from the car, Chloe had been first to realize that something was wrong and her blood ran the coldest it could possibly have been, as she watched her best friend suddenly collapse like that. She scrambled out of the car and raced towards Kim. "Dad? Daddy?!" Kim cried as she got onto her knees. She immediately checked to see if her father was breathing and he wasn't. "Someone call an ambulance!" she yelled out to no-one in particular as she started chest compressions, desperately trying to bring her father back to the land of the living. No-one knew what to do or how to react, except for Pierce who had taken Kim's order to heart and was ringing for help. But there was one burning question on the lips and in the thoughts of nearly everyone in the surrounding area.

In once again saving his country, and effectively the entire world as well, had Jack Bauer paid the ultimate price with his life?

10:56:19AM

–

 **24 HOURS LATER**

10:59:42AM

 **Washington DC**

Exactly 24 hours had passed, following the spectacular destruction of the remains of Guardstrom HQ. Nearby police enforcement and the Secret Service had been on standby for possible counter-attacks relating to the events across Europe and America, but nothing had happened. No possible hints or chatter of a follow-up attack or anything potentially hazardous. In short, it meant one thing; that the power struggle that threatened to destroy America from the inside-out was finally over. All three of President Jordan Walkman, General Andre Benediktov and Jeremy Henderson were dead. Guardstrom was in ruins and its cover-story as a mere drug reproduction company rather than a corrupted contractor exposed for everyone and anyone to see, whilst the Allied Forces of Europe terror group – disavowed by practically every single European country – had been decimated. It was finally over.

It took quite some time for both things to happen, but only hours after the end of the destruction, the power across the city centre had been restored and the terrified citizens that had gone into hiding as a result of the sudden appearance of Project Connaughton had been reassured that the danger was over. Across the rest of the country, everyone had been waiting with baited breath as to just what the hell was going on in Washington DC – reports of varied missile attacks, an aerial assault from what appeared to be some kind of rogue fighter jet, a hostage situation inside the United States Capitol, a destructive stand-off including Naval vessels in the North Atlantic not too far from the East Coast and then the presence of what reporters could only call "a winged monstrosity" had set off the alarm bells for pretty much everyone outside of DC. Only when a short message from Michael Gerrard – who had finally been retrieved from Shepherd Field Air National Guard Base – was released to major politicians in the surrounding states saying that everything that had happened would be explained shortly after 11am the next day did the hysteria and concerns even remotely calm down. In essence, the activity seen in Washington DC over the last 24 hour had led to panic and hysteria not seen since the September 11th terror attacks.

The remaining members of President Heller's cabinet had all finally arrived before the end of the day and once assembled, all had agreed on what would happen – Acting President Novick would address the nation the next day at 11am and officially hand over the job of the most powerful man in the world to the Secretary of State, Michael Gerrard. It would only be until the end of what would have been Heller's tenure and then he would stand aside for the next Presidential election. Senators and politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, were always thinking ahead for that next election – with rumours that a Senator called John Donovan was planning to run for President at that election – but politicians from both sides agreed that Gerrard taking on the role would be best for the country, as having a snap election at this time was just not ideal. As the dust from the day settled and everyone began coming to terms with what had taken place, people began looking ahead to 11am the next day with hopefully an explanation as to what on earth happened between midnight and 11am of the previous day.

Finally, the next day arrived and the extent of the destruction finally came to light, as news cameras and hundreds of reporters from various states descended on the capital city of the United States; the sight of the Washington Monument, destroyed and lying in pieces on the National Mall, managed to send a chill down the spine of even the most hardened news reporters. Everyone knew that Mike Novick had addressed the nation in the early hours of the previous day in the absence of more senior people who could have done it, so there were people who weren't surprised and people who were as Novick walked up the podium near the western front of the United States Capitol, which had been cleared for general use despite some extensive interior damage and the damage to the tunnel-mouth near the Capitol caused by the rogue fighter jet. As he reached the top, he was met by the sound of loud applause from delighted Washington DC citizens who had braved the fear of another attack to see what the former Chief of Staff to President David Palmer and disgraced Commander-in-Chief Charles Logan had to say.

Admittedly, the Acting President had to wait for quite some time until the applause died down, but soon he was able to start his speech. "My fellow Americans.. for many of you, you will have been asking yourself the same questions over and over in your head for the last 24 hours. What on earth has been going on? Well, some of you will know the truth. But many of you do not know the full facts – we have been through what has been inarguably our darkest day since the September 11th terrorist attacks. We have all, as a nation, suffered a collective loss. Hundreds if not thousands of brave Americans, killed in the line of duty and bravery to protect their country from chaos, from destruction, from terrorism.." he began. Watching the speech on a TV inside the Oval Office, meanwhile, were Chloe, Kim, Pierce, Heather and several Secret Service agents and White House staff. The speech largely became a background piece as the doors to the Office opened, Dr Tanyel Burton walking in. "Someone here who insisted on seeing you all in the flesh.." the doctor explained, walking off to the side of the doors as Jack walked in – complete with a walking stick and looking completely shattered but very much alive.

"Dad.. Daddy!" Kim remarked in shock as she leapt up from her seat and walked over to her father, embracing him immediately. "What are you doing up? I thought Dr Burton recommended.." she started, only for the former agent to interrupt her mid-sentence. "..recommended that I get as much sleep as I possibly can? She did, but I'm honestly fine. Besides, I'm gonna get all the chance to sleep on the way back to Los Angeles with you and Stephen and the kids.." Jack revealed. Kim's eyes shot up as she remembered what she had been told only yesterday; for what happened in New York City and everything in-between that had forced him to flee the country four years ago, deceased President Heller had issued her father with a full pardon. He could return home at long last and he was going to do just that. Kim could only sign in relief at her father's words and she again embraced him. "I can't believe you're finally coming home.." was all she could say. Chloe could only smile at the scene before her, as did Pierce; there was nothing more loving and refreshing than that of a father and his daughter hugging.

"Heather?" Dr Burton said quietly, addressing the teenage Walkman. Heather turned around at the mention of her name; she was pretty much in one piece following the events in the north of the city centre, aside from multiple cuts and bruises on top of her broken foot. She had just one question on her mind. "Were you able to..?" she asked, before the doctor interrupted. "Yes. I was successfully able to identify Mr Gumushan from what was recovered of his remains" she confirmed, which put Heather's mind at ease. As the fallout from the destruction of Project Connaughton died down, rescue workers had finally been able to get inside the remains of the ambulance in their search for the Turkish-Cyprian agent. When they found some burnt remains underneath a pile of rubble, Heather immediately knew that that meant Gumushan was dead. The more the search for him had dragged on, the more she realized that he had been killed and there was nothing that could have been done to prevent that. The two hadn't known each other for even two hours, but Heather had grown to respect Gumushan greatly – mainly because of how they had kept each other's backs and how they had worked hard to protect each other as closely as possible during the end-hours of the crisis.

"Has the Cyprian government been informed?" the teenager asked. "Yes, both the Cyprian and Northern Cyprian governments are in the process of being told. Mr Gumushan's family should be finding out in the next hour or so" the doctor replied. Heather sighed, as she had a feeling that what she was about to say would raise a lot of eyebrows. But she had had plenty of time to think about this and she knew that it was the right choice. Practically everyone who had worked at Guardstrom had been killed and those who survived were likely going to be charged with conspiracy to commit treason or even treason itself – after all, nearly everyone there had played at least a small part in the events of the last 48 hours. Her mother was dead and she had no other immediate family to speak of; no grandparents or aunts or uncles or even cousins and she had never had the chance to meet or know her father, a move that her mother insisted was "for her benefit". "When it's time for Gumushan's remains to be flown back to Cyprus.. I want to go with them" she revealed, a response that shocked the White House doctor.

"I know what you're thinking.. but the fact is, I've got nothing left for me here. Gumushan on the other hand, he did so much to protect me during the end hours of the whole crisis. It's only right his family and his country know the full truth of how he acted yesterday" the teenager continued, her logic now beginning to make perfect sense to Dr Burton. "Well, that would have to be cleared up with the incoming President but from my point of view and after my recommendation, I don't think he'll have much of a case to refuse your reasoning" she replied, delivering a slight wink at the same time. Realizing what meant, Heather immediately started to smile in relief. She knew it wasn't fully necessary for her to go to Cyprus but she felt that Gumushan's fellow countrymen deserved to know what kind of person he was like in the crisis.

As this discussion was taking place, Chloe and Pierce had walked up to where Jack and Kim were hugging. The former agent spotted his best friend standing in front of him and sighed. "Chloe" he said, releasing himself from his daughter's hug and immediately hugging the former analyst. "Well done, Chloe. Everything you did yesterday, everything you did in London.. Morris would be so proud of you" he said assuringly. At the mention of her deceased partner, the tears nearly started to form in Chloe's eyes but she was able to keep herself composed. "Aaron, thank you. Keeping my family safe for so long" Jack added as he moved one arm free, so that he could shake the hand of the veteran agent. "My pleasure, Jack – after everything you've done for this country so many times, it's the least I could do" Pierce insisted as he shook hands with Jack, his respect for him after so many years still intact and still always growing.

"Guys! Mr Gerrard's about to speak!" an agent suddenly said and all eyes turned back towards the TV screen. The agent was right; the Secretary of State was making the long way up the steps towards the platform where Novick was already standing. Gerrard was about to be sworn in as the next – and temporary – President of the United States. Silence fell across the Oval Office, as Gerrard reached the top of the steps. The first order of business; swear in the next Commander-in-Chief. Chloe and Kim had already witnessed the swearing in of a President from seeing Novick being sworn in in the early hours of the previous day, within the underground bunker. The sound on the TV was turned up, as Gerrard placed his hand on the bible being held by the Chief Justice. Novick moved to stand next to him.

"Please repeat after me, Mr Secretary: I, Michael Harrison Gerrard.."

"I, Michael Harrison Gerrard.."

"..do solemnly swear.."

"..do solemnly swear.."

"..that I will faithfully execute the office.."

"..that I will faithfully execute the office.."

"..of President of the United States.."

"..of President of the United States.."

"..and will to the best of my ability.."

"..and will to the best of my ability.."

"..preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States..  
"..preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.. so help me god.."

And like that, it was done. Michael Gerrard had become the President of the United States of America. The Chief Justice removed the Bible and the applause from the crowd started all over again, continuing again for quite some time until the President was able to calm them down with a simple shake of the hand. "I did have a speech to give you.. but considering the events of the last 48 hours, I don't think it necessary or appropriate. But what I will tell you all is this. We have experienced some horrific losses in the last few days, losses that no-one else as a country should have to go through. It's time that every single one of you learnt the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" he paused, knowing that those watching his speech were about to react in shock at what he was going to tell them.

"The attacks on our country were not limited to that of a far-right European terror group. Some of our own citizens were involved as well – and I'm sure many of you have heard of Guardstrom? They were not a drug reproduction company as _we were all led to believe..._ " he continued, his voice falling into the background slightly as those in the Oval Office. "What's he doing?" Kim asked, confused as to why the new President was telling so much of what happened as he could. "Once you get to know him, Ms Wesley, you'll recognize that Mr Gerrard is one of the most honest and straight-forward men you could ever see. In this case, he's saying what he thinks the rest of the country and the world deserves to know" Pierce replied. He had actually had the pleasure of meeting the former Secretary of State the previous year and had come to regard him as someone who spoke the truth and had the utmost integrity, something he had not seen in that many Presidents aside from David Palmer.

" _..and it was Guardstrom who developed that aerial weapon so many of you below me saw yesterday morning_ " Gerrard continued through the screen. By now, the slight cheers and sounds heard by everyone who had come out had vanished; instead, there was silent horror as Gerrard's words hit home. Some people weren't entirely surprised as they knew in the past that there had been Americans determined to help the enemies of the nation in some way – but the mere mention of certain Americans willing to split the country in half just for financial benefits sent a cold chill down the spines of hundreds, if not thousands of Americans. "..I can see that many of them still have questions.. and I promise that by the end of the next election, you will have those answers presented to you. For now, all I can say is that..." the newly named President continued, but his speech again became the equivalent of background noise, as everyone in the Oval Office focused away from the speech. Kim looked like as though she was a little disappointed.

"I would have thought he would have at least credited my dad for everything he's done. He's put everything and everyone he loves on the line for years and yet again, the government throw him under the bus!" she said coldly. She genuinely believed Jack should have been given the credit and praise he deserved after so many years of protecting his country and his government from destruction. But to everyone else's surprise, the former agent seemed relaxed. "That.. that is something I wish would happen, sweetheart. But really, I don't care about being recognized. After everything I've been through, I'm going to make the most of Russia calling off their manhunt and Heller pardoning me.. I'm going home and nothing is going to stop me doing that. You, Chloe, my grandchildren, you are effectively everything I have left and I do not want to lose that!" he replied and Kim realized he did truly mean it. Her father was finally coming home. "Oh Daddy.." the tears from Kim's eyes began to flow down and she again pulled her father into a hug.

Chloe literally had no idea how to react to that – Jack had placed her in the same category as his family, saying that she, along with Kim, was "all he had left". But before she could do or say anything, there was a knock on the double-doors. Jack looked up to see a young Secret Service agent poking his head through. "We have a little surprise for you, Mr Bauer. We literally just picked him up from near Guardstrom HQ" he revealed and the doors were then fully opened, revealing Belcheck standing next to the agent. His arm was in a cast and he looked like as though he had been through several war-zones, but he was alive. Needless to say, Heather, Jack and Chloe had different reactions upon seeing the Serb mobster alive and in one piece – the teenager was in disbelief, the former agent was delighted and the former analyst massively relieved. "Belcheck!" Jack was first to speak and he went up towards him, making sure to use his left arm to shake the Serb's hand, considering it was his right arm in the cast.

"So what the hell happened? We've been looking for you for nearly a day, where were you?" Jack asked, genuinely trying to figure out how on earth Belcheck managed to eject from the cockpit of Project Connaughton without too much in the way of injury and how he had even managed to survive considering where he might have ended up landing. "The massive explosion from the weapon crashing.. the shock-waves sent me flying onto the outskirts of the park-land. Got caught in a tree, broke my arm. Found Secret Service by luck" Belcheck revealed, sounding a little sheepish by the end of how he had only found those trying to find him by a stroke of luck. Jack didn't seem to mind too much though. "That doesn't matter.. all that's important is you're here now. Henderson's dead, Benediktov sacrificed himself to make sure of it!" he replied, the mention of the Russian General having killed himself to ensure the death of the mastermind behind the crisis getting a raised eyebrow from the Serb mobster.

"That I was not expecting.." he admitted, having believed that Benediktov was currently in the custody of the FBI – especially considering the promise he made to turn himself in if he was allowed to stop Henderson's reign of terror. "It's true, I promise you. It's all over – you helped bring an end to the crisis, Belcheck, you should be proud of yourself" Chloe added quickly. She knew Belcheck didn't really want to be considered a hero; he strongly preferred to be seen as just a form of "hired help", only he helped those that had helped him in some way in the past. After all, the only reason he had helped Jack with the events in London was because the former agent had saved him. He was here in DC because he happened to have been drawn into the power struggle as a result of Flight 681 being hijacked by the Allied Forces of Europe's "Airborne Cell" and then Jack getting involved in trying to stop it.

The silence between the small group began to grew more awkward as a result of Belcheck not replying, so Heather decided to step in. "What are you going to do now? Now that the crisis is finally over?" she asked. The Serb mobster frowned; he hadn't really thought of that. Then again, that was probably because he didn't have anything to go back to. He could hardly go back to his own country, not after what had happened before he left for London with Jack. Anywhere else in mainland Europe would be out of the question as a result of either immigration rejecting him due to his mob ties or even the mobs in some countries deeming him "persona non grata" for varying reasons. And even though he played a part in stopping one of the darkest days in America from getting even worse, the new government would still raise objections to him being in the country because of his background; he had a feeling that whilst they wouldn't have objections to him staying owing to what he had done, once the American people discovered who he really was, they would be spitting blood at their government "allowing" a mobster to stay in their country.

"I don't know.. truth be told, considering everything that's happened, I hadn't really given much thought to it" he conceded. "Well.. I'm planning to travelling to Cyprus with Gumushan's remains. I would feel a little safer if I had you along?" Heather suddenly proposed, the mention that she was going to the small island located south of Turkey surprising everyone of Jack, Kim, Chloe and Pierce. Belcheck wasn't expecting it either and he gave the teenager a look as if to say she should explain further. "Well, the way I see it, I was a big help to Gumushan in the end-hours of the crisis and vice-versa to me. I think it's only right that I go to Cyprus and tell his family exactly what kind of person he was – and if you were to come, that would be someone else with first-hand experience backing me up" she explained.

The Serb mobster took some time to think about the offer. True, he had not spent nearly as much time with the Turkish-Cyprian as the teenage Walkman had done, but he still knew how much of a help he had been. "Alright.. provided the President is okay with it, I will accompany you to Cyprus" he agreed. Heather smiled at this, happy that she wouldn't really have to go it alone. Jack and Chloe were a little surprised by his decision, but said nothing – Jack in particular believed it to be the best option available. Like him when he fled the country to escape both American and Russian law enforcement four years previously, Belcheck was a bit of a lost soul. He had no family to speak of, massacred by forces linked to Victor Drazen and he had no-one to turn back across the entirety of Europe because of either his mob status or because he had helped bring down Karl Rask. Maybe taking this trip to Cyprus, to help purge the deceased Gumushan of his demons and to let his country know of just what kind of person he was during the attempts to stop Henderson, would help him spiritually. It could help him to purge his own past and to set him on a straight path to a proper redemption.

He gave his Serbian companion a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. "Just remember to drop me a line in the future, I wanna hear from you" the former agent said. "After everything you've done for me and I you, it would be my pleasure, Jack" Belcheck replied, before doing what no-one had expected him to do and what he hadn't done himself for quite some time. Smile. And a genuine one at that. It wasn't a dark smile, or a false smile, or even a sarcastic smile. It was honest and it was from the heart. His path to redemption was underway. As this was happening, Pierce had been on his phone, talking with someone. He snapped the phone shut. "Jack.. we have a car ready outside. If you like, you and your family can leave ahead of schedule – before things get a little hectic" he announced. Jack was a little surprised. It had been agreed between Novick and Gerrard that he could leave later this afternoon and be driven by secret escort to Dulles International Airport – considering the damage it had taken, Ronald Reagan International would be out of action for up to six months – towards a plane ready to fly them first to Charlotte in North Carolina and then home to Los Angeles. But it became clear to him that Pierce was giving him and his family the chance to leave discreetly. No fuss made, no extensive coverage. Just a quiet exit and that was it.

"Yes! Thank you, Aaron – I think we'll take that!" the former agent jumped at the chance, speaking for both his best friend and his daughter. Both Chloe and Kim wanted away from DC as quickly as possible. "Very well, if you three would like to follow me" the veteran agent responded as he started to leave the Oval Office, all three of Jack, Kim and Chloe following. But before the former agent was fully through the door-frame, he stopped. He turned around to look one last time at Belcheck. "Good luck, Belcheck. Again, drop us a line in the future" he insisted, wishing that he was leaving the Serb mobster under better circumstances than this. "Of course, Jack. Go, it's time to go home" Belcheck insisted, echoing the very sentence that Jack had told Chloe back on the outskirts of London when he had offered himself to the Russians to save her. Jack could only nod as he fully left the Oval Office.

The walk towards the main doors of the White House was short and brisk and it was when they were approaching the front of the building that Chloe suddenly realized that she hadn't seen anything of Kim's family; nothing of Stephen, Teri or even two-year-old Patrick. She should have been a little worried that they were possibly being left behind, but the calm faces on both Jack and Kim suggested that there was really nothing for her to be worried about and she relaxed. "Mr Bauer, right on time! Our young visitors are just-about for the off" another Secret Service agent, the same agent who had saved Pierce from accidentally being killed by a sleep-deprived Agent Farage, spoke up and he revealed the rest of his family; his grandchildren and his son-in-law. Teri's eyes immediately lit up at seeing her grandfather back on his feet after what she had seen happen to him 24 hours previously.

She didn't even need to call him Grandpa, she just pulled herself free of the agent holding her hand and raced towards Jack, enveloping him in a hug. Stephen was quite surprised to see his father-in-law back on his feet so soon, but he kept the surprise hidden as he watched towards Jack. "How you feeling, Jack?" he asked, his two-year-old son on his hip. "I'm pretty good, good enough to travel back with you anyway" the former agent replied, keeping a slight bit of his focus on his grand-daughter so that he could see her reaction to what he had just said. Needless to say, Teri went to shock to delight in the space of a few seconds. "You really are coming home?" she asked. "Yes, sweetheart. I am and nothing's going to stop me, not like last time!" Jack replied, remembering the disappointment he could see on her face four years ago when she found out he wouldn't be going with them back to Los Angeles from New York. Teri beamed with delight, before Kim took her hand. "Come on, honey. Let Grandpa go, you and Patrick will have enough chance to be with him when we're on the plane" she said.

Jack could only smile. "You all can go on ahead, I just need to talk to Aaron!" he told his daughter, who nodded and began to herd everyone – including Chloe – out towards the car. As she disappeared down the steps, the former agent turned towards the veteran agent. "Aaron.. there's no words I can say that would come close to how.. how thankful I am for everything you've done. The country's lucky to have you" he finally said. "And we're lucky to have you, Jack. You've done your part so many times, America will always be in your debt even if they don't know why" Pierce insisted, managing to smile himself. Jack could only nod as he tried to find the next few words. In the end, he couldn't really find any. "Give Mike and the President my regards" he said, offering his hand out to shake, which Aaron accepted. "Of course, Jack. Now go, your family's waiting" he insisted. The former agent sighed as the reality set in and he turned around to head down the steps, in the same direction as his family.

As he reached the bottom of the steps, he could see Stephen helping his children into the back of the limo, the sounds of cheers coming from the Capitol Building in the background. Kim looked up and smiled, hugging her father, with Chloe then doing the same to her best friend. The family was complete at long last. For the first time since he had been called in unexpectedly at midnight to help deal with the initial threat to Senator David Palmer, back when Teri had still been alive and life had some kind of meaning beyond just "staying alive", Jack Bauer felt content. He finally had the chance to put the horrors of what he had experienced behind him and start again with life. He felt good.

–

11:08:00AM

 **THE END**

* * *

Cast (hey, I can dream and hope this'll happen, right?):

Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer

Mary Lynn Rajskub as Chloe O'Brien

Branko Tomovic vs Belcheck

William Devane vs President James Heller

Levan Uchaneishvili vs General Andre Benediktov

Peri Gilpin as Guardstrom President Jordan Walkman

Bob Saget as Secretary of State/President Michael Gerrard

Mackenzie Vega as Heather Walkman

Jon Bethernal as Jeremy Henderson

Anthony Montgomery as Cannavale

Elisha Cuthbert as Kim Wesley

Jason Faunt as Christian Evans

Jude Ciccolella as Mike Novick

Tom Hiddleston as Andrew McKaye/Virgil Cummings

Daniel Bruhl as Jurgen Hermann

Elya Baskin as Nicholae Avram

Avery Brooks as Brian Baylis

John Cho as Commander Robinson

David Harbour as Commander Gibson

Eka Darville as Agent Yanes

* * *

Well.. there we go. It's done. Firstly, a few things to cover:

1\. The themes of the story. The big one is that of redemption. Three characters undergo this in the whole story - Jack, Belcheck and General Benediktov. For Jack, it's a case of fully redeeming himself in the eyes of his country - yes he does it by saving Heller in 24: Live Another Day - but here, he's going one step further. For Belcheck, it's only the beginning of his ride. He has admitted in the past that he has done some awful things by being a part of the Serbian mob and his actions in this story (and London) help to set him on the path to redeeming himself. By agreeing to go to Cyprus so that he can tell the truth about Gumushan, he's helping himself mentally and sending himself on the path to purging his past and starting again. For Benediktov, it's a case of showing that even people like him can see the light; he was misguided in his beliefs and he firmly believed that attacking America would be doing the rest of the world a big favour. Through being used as a mere pawn in a deadlier plot, he came to realise the truth and his sacrifice to ensure Henderson's death at least redeemed him in the eyes of Jack, if not his own government.

2\. The ending. I know it's probably weak, but let's face it; all Jack has ever wanted was a happy ending. Even when he kept saving the world, there was always something to throw a spanner in the works. Teri's death. His addiction to drugs. Faking his death. Being imprisoned by the Chinese. Having to leave his daughter behind. Sacrificing his freedom for Chloe. Here, he finally gets it. He gets the quiet exit he wanted and he finally reunites with his family. After everything he's been through, he deserves it.

3\. Yes, I did pull a trick. This story is essentially set over 48 hours (72 if you count London). I was a bit forced to do it or else everything would not have been workable, but I do think it does work. Otherwise, what good would ending it with Jack possibly dead after everything he did to get back to his country?

And there we go. Please, rate, review and everything else. See you all next time, possibly


End file.
